S&YE201 - Teks Trek Adventures

[00:00:10] Hello, this is Scott from Teks Trek Adventures, where I show my overlanding adventures with my Subaru Crosstrek. You can find me on Instagram at TeksTrekAdventures, and you are listening to episode 201 of the Subie & You Podcast. Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of the Subie & You Podcast. That is right, episode 201. Thank you, Scott, for taking the time to record with me, and for sharing your journey and talking about your Crosstrek as well as other aspects of your life.

[00:00:40] Okay, in this episode we talk about him potentially coming to SubieFest, Texas, and I'm throwing that out there because if he does, then I will get a chance to meet him in person, which means that I would be able to add him to the list of people that I've had on the podcast that I've met in person. So with that, I went through all of my episodes and I counted up the number of people that I have actually met in person that I've had on the podcast.

[00:01:06] And then I thought it was just over 60 somewhere around there, but I counted all of them up and I have met 74 of my guests that I've had on the podcast, which is pretty cool because this has mostly been a remote podcast where I've recorded remotely with people because that's really the only opportunity I have to record with people.

[00:01:31] But because I have been out to several events thanks to Subaru and then also thanks to me just going out there on my own because Subaru brought me out to BoxerFest in 2021. They brought me out to SubieFest, California in 2022. And then I've been to SubieFest, Texas two years in a row. But then I also drove out to or drove up to Subaru Flatfest in 2022.

[00:01:56] I also went out for the SoftRoad Nation one year anniversary and was able to meet people there. I've been to Washington where I met people there. I went out to Moon Rocks where I met people there. So I've been I've felt fortunate to have been kind of all over the country for one reason or another and have been able to meet so many people in person, which to me, that's one of the best things about this community is being able to meet somebody that you've been talking to through Instagram.

[00:02:25] And, you know, get to see them in person and like kind of get to know them a little bit better. So I just thought it would be a fun fact to throw that out there that I've met so many people in person that I've actually had on the podcast. But we will move on with other things now like this thing right here. The Subi 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.

[00:02:53] 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 Subi, head on over to eccentricdesigns.com. 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 the Subi and You podcast.

[00:03:17] And please don't forget that if you were a previous guest on the podcast and you would like to have a podcast decal with your episode number on it, you can reach out to Eccentric Designs, go to her website. And if you go to the search bar, you can just type in episode and it will come up with the decals for the podcast specific episodes and you can order it there.

[00:03:42] I know that a few people had reached out to her specifically and requested a decal with their number. And a few people had reached out to me asking if that was something that she could do. So then I reached out to her and said, hey, why don't you just add it to the website as an option? So that's what she did. So go grab your episode specific decal. If you tuned into the Subi Scoop last Monday, you heard me talk to Khan about Subi Fest and Subi Events. So we've got all these great events coming up.

[00:04:10] So be sure to you can still tune into that episode if you haven't checked it out. And then next Monday, I will have another Subi Scoop with another guest from Subi Events. And it'll be like a part two for this Subi Events series with the Subi Scoop. So be sure to tune in next Monday for that as well. And go check out all the Subi Fest websites or all the Subi Events websites and find the one that's in your local area.

[00:04:38] And buy your tickets now before, you know, not before it's too late, but just buy your tickets now so that when you get to the event, you can just go right in and don't have to wait at the gate to purchase the ticket. This episode is also brought to you by SubaruGear.com. Right now for spring, they have brought out some new vintage items in their vintage collection. So if you go to SubaruGear.com, hover over collections, scroll down to vintage.

[00:05:04] You can go there and browse all of the great items that they have available with the vintage logo, vintage cars, and just a vintage look and feel to them. So be sure to go check out SubaruGear.com and see what all they have to offer. But don't stop there. You can visit and scroll and browse through all the other sections of the website to check out all the other great Subaru branded merchandise.

[00:05:29] And don't forget that you can save 20% off your purchase by using the code SUBINU25 at checkout. And you can also get free shipping if your order is over $50 after the 20% discount. So go fill up your cart, do some great Subaru shopping and get some great new gear. Thank you so much SubaruGear.com for sponsoring this SUBINU podcast.

[00:05:55] And thank you for bringing this great offer to the SUBINU podcast listeners. As mentioned in episode 200, SUBINU25 is the newest sponsor of the SUBINU25 podcast. And I'm very grateful for their sponsorship and glad to have had them on. So many of you have heard of SUBINU25 and learned more about SUBINU25 when I talked to Nick on episode 189. But do you know about the Mod Report magazine?

[00:06:21] The Mod Report is real print, real content, real modding, and pushes the limits of Subaru modding one page at a time. Each issue is packed with expert insights, the hottest new products, and exclusive trend reports. Most orders at SUBINU25.com shipped from their Connecticut warehouse will receive the newest version of the Mod Report for free.

[00:06:44] For new editions of the Mod Report, SUBINU25 is looking for more brands to feature, more events to cover, and more customers to profile. If you know of a brand, event, or customer that you feel would be a great addition to the new versions of the Mod Report, send them an email at supportatsubimods.com and let them know. Also, don't forget to sign up for their RPM Rewards Program and their Diamond Club Membership to start earning rewards at subimods.com.

[00:07:14] Diamond Club Membership requires an automatic subscription. Terms and conditions apply. See full details at subimods.com slash product slash diamond club dash subscription. Thank you so much, Subimods, for becoming the newest sponsor of the SUBINU podcast. And now we will get into this episode with Scott and hear all about his cross trek and hear about his adventures, the people that he likes to get out with, and the places that he likes to explore.

[00:07:40] So here we go with episode 201 of the SUBINU podcast. Hey, Scott, how's it going? Pretty good. And yourself? I'm doing well. Thank you for taking the time to record with me and be a guest on the podcast. Yeah, it's awesome.

[00:08:09] Yeah. So before we get anything started, I have to ask the most important question, as always, and that is whether you prefer waffles or pancakes. So I kind of like both. But if I had to choose, it'd probably be pancakes. Yes. Chocolate chip pancakes are definitely probably one of my favorites. Okay. I like your answer then. I'm the same way.

[00:08:37] I like them both, but pancakes a little bit more. Yeah. I used to just do like regular pancakes with, you know, syrup and everything like that. And then we went to, I think, Mexico or something like that. I think it was Mexico. And we started putting agave on pancakes instead. And that was really good. And then I went over to one of my friends' houses and spent the night.

[00:09:03] And their mom decided to make chocolate chip pancakes. And after that point, anytime that my mom would make pancakes or whatever, I had to have chocolate chips put in it because it just made it so much better. Yeah. I haven't made chocolate chip pancakes in a long time, but those are definitely really good. Oh, yeah. So what's the story behind your account name? And where did you come up with that?

[00:09:32] So tech, like I'm the techie of my friends group. So I've kind of been the techie of my friends group for eons at this point. And then, of course, track. I have a Subaru Crosstrek and adventures. I'm always seeking adventure. Okay. All right. And do you have a name for your Crosstrek? Yeah. The name is Project Vibe. Okay.

[00:10:03] All right. Now, is this your first Subaru? Yes, it is. Actually, I got my license at 21. I've been biking. I mean, I was biking pretty much every day since sixth grade. Wow. I didn't get my license until I was 21. And that was my first car that I ever drove. I mean, I drove my mom's car to practice a little bit. But once I got my permit, my license, that was the first car. So why did you not get your license until 21?

[00:10:32] Did you not want to drive or not need to drive? Kind of. Yeah. I mean, I didn't necessarily need to drive because I biked everywhere. I loved biking. I mean, I was pretty close to my high school at the time, or middle school, then high school. And then I was actually biking to Sac State, which going from home to Sac State, from Sac State to work, and then work back home, that was about 30 miles. Wow.

[00:11:01] And I would do that in rain, in the wind, in the sunshine. Of course, the wind wasn't as fun. Rain was pretty fun because I could screw around in the mud and stuff like that as I was coming back home. But I think that also kind of sparked the adventure in me with my Subaru as well. Okay.

[00:11:24] Yeah, because I was wondering, like, you know, I didn't know about the rain because I could see if you're in San Diego, you might not have to worry about rain so much. But I guess you did encounter rain and just had to deal with it, huh? Yeah. Well, I'm in Sacramento. So, I mean, we don't get – I mean, we get rain, but it's nowhere like, you know, Oregon or something like that where it's raining constantly. Yeah. We get more sunshine.

[00:11:48] During the summertime, it definitely wasn't as fun because it was, you know, triple digits at some points. And so, fortunately, we have got a pool in the backyard, so I could always just, you know – there would be times where I would literally get home, take my shoes off. I still had, like, all my clothes on and stuff like that. I just jumped straight into the pool because it was just so hot. I was like, you know, I'm done. Yeah. And I bet that felt nice. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely.

[00:12:16] So, where did your interest in Subaru come from? And then why did you choose a Crosstrek out of all the other models available? So, originally, like, my dream car has kind of always been, like, a WRX. But the WRX really didn't fit my lifestyle. I like adventure and I wanted to do off-roading, but a WRX really didn't fit for that. And so, originally, I was looking at an Impreza.

[00:12:44] And I was thinking, you know, do actually what Overland NA was doing and, you know, put, like, a six-inch crazy lift on the thing. And then one of my buddies was just like, why don't you get a Crosstrek? The Crosstrek already has a lift compared to the Impreza. And then you can put a lift on top of that and have your ultimate, like, off-roading Subaru. And I'm like, might as well do that instead. Yeah. So, when you bought your Crosstrek, did you buy it new?

[00:13:14] Yeah, it was brand new. Okay. Funny thing about that. So, I was, while I was in college, I was kind of inquiring about the different Subaru Crosstrek and stuff based off the specs that I wanted. And Elk Grove Subaru calls me up while I was in college. So, I'm like, no, I'm not going to take this call while I'm in class.

[00:13:36] So, I got out of class, like, not even probably five seconds after I got out of class, they called me up and says, hey, you know, when can you come in to get your brand new Subaru? You know, when you want to test it out? And I'm like, well, Meta Subaru has the Costco Autobi program. So, you know, I kind of want to go through them, see what my deals are.

[00:13:59] And, of course, they kind of went through their spiel of, you know, oh, you know, we can, you know, we'll outdo anything, all the prices, stuff like that. So, of course, I don't want to give in to sales and all that stuff. So, I was like, you know, I still want to keep my options open. I want to go to Meta Subaru first, but I'm definitely interested. And they said, well, you know, we're offering $800 below invoice right now. So, I was like, okay, that's actually really cool to have, you know, that opportunity, $800 below invoice.

[00:14:28] I took that over to Meta Subaru and they said, well, the only one that we have is at Elk Grove Subaru. And, you know, it's going to take, you know, some time and money to get it over there. And I basically revealed to them saying, you know, Elk Grove Subaru wanted to give me this for $800 below invoice. And the salesperson didn't even like, they didn't even try to like sell me on it or anything like that.

[00:14:56] He said, I don't care about the commission or anything like that because it's not worth my time and effort. But you need to go over to Elk Grove Subaru right now and buy this car because it was the only one in a 250 mile radius in that same thing. So, he's like, there is no other car besides, you know, different color or anything like that. So, you need to go over there right now and buy it because these things are selling like hotcakes.

[00:15:23] So, I'm like, okay, if a salesperson is willing to lose commission over a deal like this, it's got to be like, I have to go over there immediately. Yeah. Yeah. I called my mom up and I was just like, hey, so, you know, we need to go over to Elk Grove or to Elk Grove Subaru because I was with my friend at the time who had Costco. And so, she was like, well, let's eat first. I'm like. No. I want to get the car down.

[00:15:50] And she's like, well, you know, maybe some other better opportunity. I'm like. Are you? Okay, fine. Let's eat and, you know, I'll calm down a little bit. And then we ended up going to Elk Grove Subaru, spent, gosh, I don't even know, probably three or so hours over there. Ended up getting my brand new Crosstrek with nine miles on it.

[00:16:12] So, what was the specs on it that you were looking for that, you know, it narrowed it down to like, Harry, there's just only this one within this 250 mile radius. So, I wanted the limited trim just because I wanted the bells and whistles and stuff like that because, of course, I'm techie.

[00:16:30] But I didn't want the absolute highest trim of the limited because I knew that I wanted to do a sound system, which, again, we're going to kind of go over mods and stuff like that. But I knew I wanted to do a sound system. And I also knew that the GPS didn't, I didn't really need GPS. I had Android Auto.

[00:16:53] I didn't need the moonroof because I was planning on doing off-roading and I really didn't need that either. Plus, blue is my favorite color. So, I wanted the quartz blue pearl. And that was the only, like, configuration that was at Elk Grove Subaru. Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah, it's a good-looking car. I love the blue, too. And, like, with mine, I wasn't really so concerned about the color.

[00:17:20] I just, I didn't want red and I didn't want black or whatever the darkest color is. I know it's not true black because, yeah, I don't like red cars. And I like the black cladding against a lighter color. And I like that. And with the darkest color, it kind of disappears. Yeah. Now, every one that I've seen in that color that's the darkest color looks really, really good. But I wouldn't want one for myself.

[00:17:49] And the other thing, too, is I wanted a manual. Yeah. So, that limited my choices. And so, I ended up with the white one. And I'm glad because it worked out perfect. So, yeah, I thought about doing manual. I mean, I don't know how to drive manual. And both my parents' cars are automatic. So, I never really got to learn manual. I'd still want to learn manual eventually.

[00:18:13] But knowing what I was going to be doing and I knew that it was a daily driver and knowing traffic in our area, I didn't want to deal with trying to constantly be shifting and worrying about that. Especially since I was a brand new driver. I didn't want to potentially screw up my car by, you know, downshifting or shifting wrong. It's like, you know what? I'll just get an automatic. I'll have more fun. And I'm actually kind of glad that I did.

[00:18:37] Because hearing from other people who had the manual version, sometimes it's not as easy to use versus the automatic. Yeah. Off-roading, it's definitely different. Because I remember my first experience going off-roading was my first experience going off-roading and in a manual. So, you know, if you're in an automatic and you've got like a little hill that you need to go up and over, you just push on the gas.

[00:19:04] But with the manual, you've got to balance the gas and the clutch just right. And I didn't really know how to do that just yet, trying to go up and over something. And so my son was like, what's that smell? And I'm like, that's my clutch. But I don't have to drive in traffic too often. I have to drive in traffic to and from work on Mondays and Thursdays. But I just, I love driving my car so much. And I love driving a manual so much that it doesn't bother me.

[00:19:32] And traffic isn't horrible. But I just, I love shifting gears. I just, there's something about it. And it's just, I've had that fascination since I was a kid. So, yeah, I'll use the paddle shifters. So especially like if I'm, because sometimes the CVT doesn't quite know where to be in if you're going up kind of a steep grade. So I'm like, okay. Oh, yeah. When I'm on like, you know, longer road trips and I know I'm going on several different hills, I'll just pop it in a manual and use the paddle shifters.

[00:20:02] I love those things. That's so, so awesome to be able to, to kind of have that same feeling of, you know, shifting through the gears. But, you know, it's not quite the same. No, it's not. No, paddle shifting is, it's, it's fun. At least it's something. But, and, and my son's Outback having paddle shifters has actually helped him out because his, the automatic transmission has been slipping here and there.

[00:20:29] So, but if he uses it in manual mode, it doesn't do it because he's manually shifting. Well, I guess that, I guess that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. But it works out. Well, also kind of going back to, to like the, the color, um, the next day that, cause I bought it at night. So actually it was the best.

[00:20:49] So that was the, the best and most expensive cyber Monday deal that I ever got because I mean, it was a $30,000 car and you know, I got it for $800 below invoice, which that doesn't happen very often, but because it was cyber Monday, I got it on a really good deal. Um, but the next morning I, because it's a pearl, I looked at my car and I'm like, why is my car purple?

[00:21:16] Like I bought a car that was blue, but what happened? And then, uh, then I started kind of looking around my car. I'm like, Oh, Oh, this is a pearl. This is awesome. The pearl is so nice. Yeah. I, my, my gripe initially was the, the stitching, the, the, the orange stitching with the blue to me, it just didn't quite work for me.

[00:21:41] I mean, I'd still like to eventually redo it with like a blue stitching, but man, it's expensive to get that redone. You're talking about on the seats and around the interior. Yeah. Yeah. Um, also I, I found out, so one of my friends, mom's, uh, has the hybrid version of the Crosstrek. Um, I, I don't know if you, you have seen, but the, the inside of the, um, like the paneling is actually the hybrid on my car.

[00:22:11] Oh, because it's, it's color matched. The, I wish that they just came like that from the factory. Cause it's color matched with that. Like if they had a special kind of, you know, have the sports edition and stuff like that. Now with the, the, um, the newer Crosstrek's be really cool if they had that quartz blue pearl edition, which then had those, those accents. But I had to actually buy those accents to make it color match instead of the silverish color. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:22:37] Well, when you first bought it, cause you said you were talking to somebody about wanting to adventure and take it off road, but were you intending to do mods with it? Or were you just looking for something that had the capability and ability to go off road? Yeah. I, I intended to, to mod it. I, I, I didn't intend for it to go as far as it did. Is it still going? Yeah. It's still going.

[00:23:05] It's, it's just a, it's a, I don't know if I would quite consider it a money pit. Uh, I feel, I feel like most project cars are money pits. Um, but I, I wanted it to be unique, but I also wanted to be somewhat inconspicuous. And now I've definitely made it very conspicuous. I, it is definitely like a head turner. People, people always ask me questions about it.

[00:23:34] And I, you know, I kind of like the attention, but also it's, I don't always like the attention either. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I mean, it's, they're definitely a good way to express yourself in something else other than like your own person. And so it can be fun in that aspect. But so how long did you have it before you did any mods? Like a week, maybe.

[00:24:03] Um, and what was your first mod? That was, uh, my sound system. Uh, okay. So, so when I, when I was driving my mom's car, which is a Dodge journey, it was a 2013 Dodge journey, and it had the upgraded, the premium sound system. So, you know, I got so used to a good sound system. Plus, you know, I have, I've got a whole bunch of speakers in my room. I've got, you know, a good sound system that we have up front and in our living room. So, you know, watching movies, stuff like that.

[00:24:31] I've got used to, you know, good sounds. And so I kind of became an audiophile and then when I went to my car, I'm like, this sound system sucks. What is this crap? I mean, I'd rather spend $30,000 on a car that they, they put time and effort and love into, you know, the interior, the feel, the engine, all that kind of stuff. Um, you know, there's, there's definitely luxury cars that spend a lot of time and a lot of money on, you know, really good sound system.

[00:24:59] And sometimes their car's not that great. So I was okay with the sound system initially not being that great because I knew I had full range of upgrading down the line. So my friend's dad, um, he actually did sound for a living. Oh, that's convenient. Oh yeah. I, I, I went to him and I was just like, Hey, so I want, I want some thump. I need, I need a little bit of bass.

[00:25:24] Cause I've also had one of my friends that, that put a sound system in his car and I got, I got so used to, you know. Yeah. I miss it too. Um, so I was like, okay, I want some thump. I don't want it to take up a whole lot of room. Um, but you know, I want a budget of like $1,200 or whatever. And so he kind of fit within that budget. Uh, he built me the, uh, the sub case and everything like that.

[00:25:50] And it was a 12 inch jail audio sub paired with a 500 watt amp. And that thing was really, really good. Um, I'm sure. Took, took a little bit of time of tuning and stuff like that. But I mean, I, I, when, because I didn't have initially any sound deadening material or anything like that, you could hear my car from like a block away. Um, my parents knew when I came home because, because the sound system, um, but that, that

[00:26:18] was, that was the very first launch as well as literally the first week that I got my car, I went off-roading like bone stock, like no, no wheels, no tires, nothing. Even before the sound system, I, I went off-roading, um, the first week and then that, that was great. I was able to kind of test it out. And then the following probably a couple of weeks, uh, I did photography and videography for a camp.

[00:26:44] I'd been going to that camp for, for years and I knew the area and there's three different areas that I could go into. It was probably like midnight. So of course the Subaru doesn't have, I mean, it has great lights. But when it's pitch black outside and you just have your high beams, it doesn't do, you know, amazing. That's why we always put horse more lights and stuff like that on our cars.

[00:27:08] Um, but we scratched my car up super bad. Pinstripes? Yeah. Oh man. Man's Nita. Um, so the, the first, the first one, first trail that, that was on the left side, we'd never gone to before. Or, and then the middle and right one we've gone on to previously. So I'm like, okay, I, cause those were the trails that I went to initially the first time I went off roading. Um, cause this was towards, uh, like Twain Heart, like mine's damn area.

[00:27:37] There's, there's quite a few different trails out there. Um, so the left, left side, my friends were like, oh, let's go, you know, peer pressure. Sure. Why not? So we can't, can't always listen to your friends. So, you know, everyone was, was outside of my car, like hanging, hanging off the edge, you know, had their jackets on. They're like, well, protect your car. So, you know, they, they were hanging out the edge of my car. You can hear the, the scratches going by.

[00:28:05] They're like, ah, it's probably just, you know, it's, it's going to widen up down the line. It was probably, oh gosh, it was probably like three miles worth of manzita. Just, just scratching my car. And I got to a point like, you know, screw it. I'm going to get scratches on my car. I just want to get through this. I want to be done. Uh, yeah, that my face on that, on that initial trip was, was not the greatest, but then we got to a clearing.

[00:28:33] So I'm like, okay, do I want to keep going or do I turn back around? Yeah. And did you have to go back through that same spot? I, I contemplated for, you know, probably a good five minutes and trying to figure out, cause I'm like, what happens if there's something else up ahead? Like, and that's kind of, you know, what we do as off-roaders. We, if we don't know the area, we don't have, you know, a guy or anything like that. That's anything mapped out. We just go.

[00:29:04] So I'm like, you know what? Screw it. Let's, let's just keep going. Cause I don't want to deal with all that scratches again. Um, went a little bit further. Uh, and you know, 8.7 inches of clearance is, is decent. Um, but when it's an old mining area and you have a, uh, railroad tie, that's kind of sticking up in the air. Oh, that was kind of, that was kind of a interesting thing to get around. Uh, fortunately, you know, I mean, I didn't have anything to air down. I didn't even know about airing down at the time.

[00:29:32] Cause this is kind of my first off-roading experience. Um, so just kind of went through it and got it taken care of barely, uh, hit a ravine later on. It was a three foot ravine. Fun. Uh, 8.7 inches of clearance and a three foot green doesn't exactly work. That doesn't match up too well. Fortunately, it kind of tapered, tapered off on the left side.

[00:29:58] So I, you know, slowly as my friends, you know, walked me through it, went down. Um, at the time I didn't know until probably about two, three years ago when I went down on that, that first little bit, uh, the entire front of my car, the bumper just completely came apart or like, like it came off the, uh, clips. Oh yeah. Because, because my friends didn't, he already knew I was kind of pissed off about this entire

[00:30:25] trip and he, he didn't, he didn't want to hurt my feelings anymore. So he, he just quickly put it back together and didn't say anything because I was too concentrated on trying to get my car for this three foot ravine. Got to the, the back left or something like that. I think, um, and I, I come down, I just hear, I'm like, Oh no, what'd I do to my car?

[00:30:51] My brand, brand new car after I already got scratches and stuff like that. And knowing from my friend, already knowing that the front came off, he went to the back and he's like, ah, it's clips pop, pop, pop, pop. You're good. I'm like, uh, tearing up my car out here. Oh, okay. I guess. Sure. Let's, let's just keep going.

[00:31:16] Um, came to a 90, 90 degree hairpin turn with a stump, like a massive stump on the right side with a foot drop and a stream in the middle with that 90 pin, 90 degree, uh, hairpin turn up to the right onto like a gravel trail. Um, I had to do it cause I'm not going to go back the other direction.

[00:31:42] So I went through, had to, you know, absolutely punch it through that area just because, you know, the all season tires don't really do the greatest. And my, my friend, after I went through that area, he's like, you don't want to know how close you were to that stump. And I'm like, I kind of do. He's like, bro, you had like less than half an inch from scraping that, like the entire side of your car. I was like, well, I'm glad that I didn't. Yeah. Let's keep going.

[00:32:13] Ended up getting to a point where there was cattle that were just in the middle of the road. I'm like, well, I guess we're just going to wait here. Cause I don't want to freak them out and, you know, have them absolutely smash my car up by, you know, scaring them with a horn or whatever. We made a joke about, you know, they didn't even use their blinkers to, you know, they just kind of stayed in the middle. They didn't even do anything. Um, but that was, that was my, my first off-roading experience.

[00:32:41] It took me about eight hours to go through that area. Um, when did you start? Uh, like midnight. Oh my gosh. Dude. And it was, so I, I also had, um, staff in the back of my car. And so the staff had to be there to, you know, help with, with the camp. And so we basically just got there right as breakfast was starting. And you know, the other staff were like, where were you? Yeah.

[00:33:11] Where have you guys been? We were afraid that you, you guys, I'm like, uh, nowhere. We weren't, we weren't, you know, just having fun. They're like, you look really tired. Yeah. Hey, that's what these cars are for, man. It's, it's to have fun in them. Oh yeah. I, I, I definitely beat that car up. Yeah. But, uh, you know, I mean, it's, uh, it's, it's, I would rather have my car, have something

[00:33:39] happen to my car out on the trail than have somebody like open their door and ding my car. Yeah. That makes me mad. Yeah. Same. Yeah. I know, I pretty much know like all the, where the scratches are, what happens. I like, it's a story like, you know, oh, that's that scratch there. That was from, you know, when I hit a log and it, you know, popped up and hit the side of my car. Yeah. So it's like, I don't, I don't want to fix the scratches.

[00:34:04] I actually did end up going to a company, um, to get those fixed costs quite a bit. Um, but because it was like brand new, I'm like, I don't want to ruin my brand new car. Like I, I, I had it for a month, you know, I don't want to, you know, have this car that's absolutely trashed. It's bone stock and it's already trashed up. So it's like, okay, I'll spend a bit of money. I know my limitations now I've had my fun. And, and now, now at this point, I mean, I've already had my scratches, you know, it

[00:34:33] doesn't quite look that bad as it did before, but I also, it's an off-roader. Yeah, exactly. Something's going to happen eventually. Yeah, exactly. So I know you have a pretty extensive list of mods, but, uh, and so I guess, I mean, we can kind of go through them in a little bit, but, or some of them, but what, what would you say has been the most transformative mod that you've done on your Trek?

[00:34:59] Like that makes it stand out either like externally or like just to you where it's, you did this mod and you're like, man, my car looks so different and so much better. Like just so awesome now. I think the, the bumpers definitely helped a lot. Um, I mean, I, but of course being, being the techie, I love like just having all the tech inside, like, you know, having a cell booster and all these other things, you know, lights, like it, it's cool.

[00:35:28] And actually funny thing. When I, when I was talking with, with Sean at not standard audio, he called me as they were, you know, taking things apart and he's like, you know, I, I thought that you had a lot of electronics, but I didn't know you had this many electronics. You know, I opened another panel and I'm like, there's, there's another electronic. I'll open another panel. Here's another accessory.

[00:35:58] Like, he's like, I didn't realize how many accessories you actually had on your car. I'm like, yeah, I've put a lot into this car. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's, there's a lot that you can do to it. And, uh, so like, what would you say? I mean, what are, I mean, I, you know, looking at your Instagram page, you've got like a roof rack on there. You obviously have the wheels and tires and like you mentioned the bumpers and then, um, I'm guessing you've got skid plates.

[00:36:27] Uh, what would you say? Like, have you done all the mods yourself primarily? I mean, except for certain things. Yeah. So, so most of the mods are, I did, um, I think the only, the only ones that I didn't do were probably the, um, what was it? The bumpers and the suspension. Uh, so Cali Custom did the suspension. Um, I can't remember the company who, who did the bumpers because I didn't have a jack or anything like that.

[00:36:57] Um, I initially did the, the first lift kit that I had. Um, it was just on pucks. Oh yeah. Yeah. And one of the, the first, uh, like true flexes of my car that I did with that thing. I didn't disconnect the sway bars or anything like that. I didn't know anything about doing that at the time either. Um, I didn't disconnect it and I completely snapped the sway bar stabilizer in the process of that and freaked me out.

[00:37:24] Cause I, I didn't know enough about cars and I thought I broke something super serious. And then my friend, friend came over and he looked at it. He's like, ah, it's just gonna, it's just gonna rattle a little bit. You're fine. But I, I was still freaking out cause I just heard a clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk every time I went over something and I'm like, that doesn't sound like that great. But he's like, no, you're good. Don't worry about it. Okay. Yeah. I mean, if, especially if there's somebody that has done something before and they kind

[00:37:52] of know what's going on, it's like, they can bring some peace of mind to you and put you at ease and do it where you're just like, oh, okay, well, I was freaking out, but I guess I don't need to. Yeah. Um, so the, the wires and stuff like that, all the, the electronics inside I did, uh, with help with, with friends. I'm looking at the list of mods that you sent to me and you have a hammock, hammock attachment. Is that, does that go like on the trailer hitch or where does that go?

[00:38:21] So that also, I mean, you could probably actually see, which of course our viewers or the listeners can't really see, but I actually have a hammock behind me. That's, that's actually a hammock that's attached to my, my wall. Oh, I was wondering what that was. I was like, there's some, a smile on the back. So, so sometimes like if I can't go to bed or whatever, I'll actually sleep better in my hammock. Um, so my initial, oh yeah, I, I love those things.

[00:38:47] Um, so of course, if I'm going to be camping, normally I'm going to be with trees, but you know, if we're in the desert or whatever, you're not going to always have trees to hang on. Um, so my first thing for my, my car was one of the things that, that I decided to have for my, my car with my hammock was a attachment for the hitch. Um, the only thing with that is that I couldn't access my hatch because it was attached to the hitch. Oh yeah.

[00:39:16] Unless I got like a swing out arm or something like that. So I didn't really use it that much. Um, then I went to, to Cali custom alignments and I, I said, you know, can you guys make me a hammock attachment for my rock sliders? I actually ended up, uh, talking to LP adventure and getting kind of a sponsorship with LP adventure to, for them to, to basically make a custom attachment to the rock sliders.

[00:39:43] And it was actually showcased at, um, Subie Fest Arcadia, um, in SoCal. And, you know, it was really cool to, to show that off and what Cali custom alignments can do. Um, the only thing is that it took a lot to set up and, uh, it took a lot of space. And of course, you know, it's the very first thing. So R and D and everything like that takes a lot of time and effort. And, you know, of course not everything's perfect.

[00:40:10] So they, they actually strengthened a couple of things, uh, made, you know, a 2.0 and it was great. It's just, it still took, took quite a bit of time for me to set up. And I was just scrolling through Instagram and I found Kamek and I'm like, this is what I've been looking for the entire time. I'm, I don't have to worry about, you know, clamping it to the, the rock sliders and everything like that. You know, it's cool. It has, I mean, it has this purpose, you know, if someone wants to, wants to use that, that's great.

[00:40:38] But for me, I wanted something a little bit more simple. So I, it's basically a ball that attaches to the, uh, the rack. So kind of like a hitch, that hitch ball. And then you have a pole that goes out that attaches to that. And then there's a fork that goes down. Um, and you can basically hang from the car side to that fork and you can create that hammock set up as well.

[00:41:04] Um, I'll be kind of posting a little bit more about that, uh, within the next probably month or so from our, uh, trip with RallyTech. Nice. So of all your mods, which would you say is your favorite? Um, favorite would, well, once it's done, probably the, the sound system and kind of like everything that, that not standard audio is doing. Um, I mean the originally, of course it was my old sound system. Uh, I mean, that thing, I'm like, I said, I'm an audiophile, so I love listening to music.

[00:41:34] Um, and then if I'm not listening to music, then I'm listening to, to audio books or podcasts, you know, like Suvi and you podcasts. Oh, cool. I've heard that's a pretty good one. Yeah, I think, I think so. I, you know, you should, you should be on it sometimes. Okay. That's good. I have to check it out. Yeah. And then what would you say has, which mod has proven to be most useful? Uh, I would, I would say probably my winch. Um, I've, I've gotten, I've gotten stuck a couple of times.

[00:42:04] I mean, I know we'll kind of go, go through some of that later on down, down the line of the questions, but, um, it's, it's helped me get out of different situations and it's also helps other people get out of, of difficult situations as well. Yeah. It's definitely a useful mod if you've got it. What would you say, like the percentages of you going solo and going with friends? So when I, when I first got my car, uh, my friends were like, I didn't really know a whole lot about cars.

[00:42:32] Uh, so my friends were, were the ones that helped me with the mods and kind of helped me, you know, learn about off-roading and how to pick lines and stuff like that. And so initially I was going with my friends, you know, they had a Jeep and a couple other rigs and, you know, they weren't like built out or anything like that, but they also knew my limitations and my, my car's limitations. So we would go on trails that would be like easy or, you know, somewhat difficult for me, but you know, that I could still go on.

[00:43:01] And then, you know, all of a sudden, you know, money got, got involved and, you know, takes money and time, you know, and they got busy. So I'm like, okay, well, I spent basically a month or not a month, a year, uh, off-roading and then a year not really doing much because none of my friends were really wanting to off-road. So I, I kind of got fed up and I'm like, I'm tired of being a pavement princess.

[00:43:30] I don't, I, this car has seen pavement for the last year for the most part. I want to do something. So I went to my friends and I said, I'm going to go on a solo trip with or without you. And if something happens, and so if something happens to me, it's on you because, you know, you guys don't like, don't prioritize, you know, saving enough money or whatever to actually go on trips. I mean, that's the whole point. I got my car.

[00:43:59] I wanted to be old off-road with friends, but then I didn't really have friends that would off-road anymore. So I ended up meeting new friends. Um, actually one of my first solo trips, I, I met, uh, this one guy, I was, I was planning on just going on a hike, um, and getting all set up getting, cause I do photography and videography. So I've got my camera gear and everything, making sure I got my batteries and my, my camera,

[00:44:29] tripod, everything. And, you know, I heard in the background, I heard a noise and I'm like, that sounds like a flat four, but like it's got an exhaust. So I, I kind of like walked a little bit closer to the road and I was like, okay, that's definitely a flat four. So I, I walked back to my car, prepared a little bit more. And then, uh, my, one of my friends now, Jason, he rolled up in his, his, um, forest,

[00:44:59] uh, forest or wilderness edition. And I, he had his windows down and I, I literally just made a comment about, I could have sworn I heard a flat four. And just from that statement alone, we became best of friends. Oh, that's awesome. So, so I already had parked next to, to other, uh, cross tracks. So I was like, you must just park with the other Subarus and ended up going on a hike with him and his son trilled for quite a few miles out there, came back and decided to,

[00:45:29] to go on more trips from there. But I, you know, just, just going on solo trips allowed me to make new friends. And then eventually those other friends that I was off-roading with finally realized and they're like, oh, here, let's, let's actually do some more off-roading together. And now we're kind of all doing off-roading again. That's good. Yeah. It's, it's fun when you can go with other people.

[00:45:53] There's, there's definitely sometimes like solo exploring is just because you kind of want to get out and get away from things and, and just go drive on your own. But it's definitely fun to go with other people because then if you get in situations where you need some help, you've got somebody there to help you. And if like, there's something that you want to try, but you're not sure if you should try it, you can have somebody else that maybe has a little more confidence do it first and then see them do it. And you're like, oh, okay. That looks easy. You know, I'll do that.

[00:46:23] Yeah. It's fun. I want to do a lot more hiking too this year. I, I wanted to do more hiking last year, but this, this year, well, right now I don't have my car. So I, this, this last several weeks, I haven't really been able to do anything. I, uh, my goal of 2024 was to go on at least a trip a month and do at least one larger trip during that year. And I did that.

[00:46:51] I mean, I had gone on at least one trip a month and we went to Hawaii and that was considered my like larger one as well as I went to SoCal. So, I mean, how did you drive your car to Hawaii? I, I just, I, you know, I, I, I put flotation devices on my car, you know, I mean, I'm the techie, right? You know, I, Chi Chi Bang Bang. If people still understand that reference. Yep. Some bill. Yeah. But I, I wanted to keep that in 2025.

[00:47:18] So my, my goal, which unfortunately this, this last month hasn't quite worked because of my car, but I have gone with my cousin to, to do a couple of different things, uh, with her car. Okay. But my, my goal of 2025 was to do at least one trip a month and do at least one international trip a month or sorry, one, one international trip a year. And I'm actually going on a mission trip, uh, to Costa Rica with our church.

[00:47:46] So it's me, my parents and about 10 of us, uh, that are going to go to Costa Rica in the next few months. Nice. And then, uh, last year we were talking about, uh, Hawaii and my, one of my employees is Fiji. And he was like, Oh, we should go to Fiji. So we were actually going to go last year to Fiji, but some complications happened. So now we're actually going to go to Fiji in August. So now I have two international trips that I've got planned.

[00:48:16] So I've already exceeded my, my plans for 2025. So as far as your cross trek and traveling and, and getting out and exploring, what's the furthest distance that you've driven in it? Um, probably. So, so, so Cal, if you're, if you're talking about South, um, as far as East, I've gone to the great basin national park and then, uh, North would be Tillamook.

[00:48:43] So the, the latest one that I did, uh, was when I was off-roading with, um, Tahoe treks, uh, overland NA and a couple other of the, the rally tech group. Um, we actually met, we're sorry, we met up with rally tech, uh, in, in Oregon and off-roaded with them in the snow. That was, that was probably one of the most, my most fun experiences, uh, probably ever in, in over, like over or not overlanding, but off-roading just because to be able to

[00:49:12] off-road with, with like the owners of rally tech and everything like that was once in a lifetime opportunity. Like not many people can say that they've off-roaded with the, the owners and the, the people of rally tech. Yeah. I'm, yeah, that's, uh, that would definitely be fun. And driving through snow is a lot of fun. I haven't had a chance to, to do it too often. I did it out in, in Moon Rocks in Nevada.

[00:49:35] And then I also drove, uh, Colby's Crosstrek out in Lake Tahoe when my son and I went out there to go snowboarding and just hang out. Cause my main trip was, I wanted to take my son to see proper snow cause he'd never seen snow before. So that was a lot of fun. Yeah. I, I will say that we kind of saw the, the limitations of mud trains versus the, the all all-terrain tires.

[00:50:04] Cause the all-terrain tires are designed or are snow rated. The, the KM threes that I have aren't snow rated. I mean, they, they do pretty well in the snow, but when it comes to ice, it's, it's sketchy. Uh, there was one time where we were going downhill and you had a cliff on the left and right side. And so I'm just barely feathering my, my, uh, brakes. And fortunately, fortunately we had a little bit of snow that wasn't compacted. So I just kind of, as I felt good, I was going a little bit too fast.

[00:50:34] I kind of went off, but I couldn't go off too much or else I'd go off the cliff. So that was, that was a little bit sketchy, but you know, I, I don't really go on the snow as, as often as I would, you know, mud or, or dirt and stuff like that. On our, or the, the trip with RallyTech, um, because that was my first experience. Like, I mean, I had gone on snow before, but like, I hadn't gone into super deep snow. Um, or that, I guess that was technically the second time I got, I've, uh, was in super

[00:51:02] deep snow, but the other times I had, um, we had a little bit, well, we had more recovery gear kind of, I mean, we had, we had a lot more people with, with RallyTech, but I don't know. I, I didn't want to potentially get stuck as much with RallyTech, even though, I knew that we had plenty of, of recovery gear and everything like that. I almost, I almost didn't want to get embarrassed by, by RallyTech. So I kind of was, was not, I didn't go full, full sense.

[00:51:31] I mean, Chris, Chris definitely went full send on, on several different areas, but I'm like, you know, I'll, I'll take it easy a little bit. Um, but then probably about what, two weeks later, we went to Forest Hill and I was like, you know, I'm going to have a little bit more fun. And I was drifting around and everything like that. And it's like, maybe I should have been a little bit more ballsy with, uh, with RallyTech because I had so many more people to recover me, but you know, I had, I had fun either way. Yeah.

[00:52:01] I mean, you just, as long as you're having fun, it, you know, if you don't go all out as much as you would like to, it's okay. You know, it's, it's all about getting out there and enjoying your car and, uh, using it for what it was originally designed for, but then also what you've built it out to be. Yeah. So, uh, so do you have like a buckets bucket list spot that you would like to get out to and explore and drive your Crosstrek around in? So I'd, I'd love to do Moab.

[00:52:30] Um, yeah, a lot of people say that. So there's, there's a potential plan of me going out within the next like couple of weeks. I just don't know if I'm able to go because I'm, my car is completely in shambles at the moment. But yeah, um, you could, you could just keep the folding chair in there and use that, you know, just like close it all up. Strap it down a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I saw that in there and I'm like, you know, I've, I've got to mention, mention something

[00:52:59] that about that in the, uh, in the reel. And I had some of my friends, they're like, oh yeah, you should keep it. Let's, let's put another one in there and you know, we'll, we'll do some off-roading in these chairs. Be like, oh, that'd be, that'd be pretty dope. Like an April Fool's or something like that. So yeah. Take everything out. Fun and interesting. Yeah. But, um, I, I'd want to do, want to do that.

[00:53:21] I, hopefully if I can, um, I, I want to travel all over the U S uh, just, you know, time is, is the only thing is I always. Yeah. Um, other than that, I, I want to travel as much as I can. And that's why I made a goal to do at least one international trip a year because, you know, I'm still young and I want to be able to live life to the fullest now.

[00:53:48] And so I want to, I want to, I want to be able to, to save, invest as much as I can travel as much as I can. So then when, when I'm older, I don't have to worry about anything. I don't have to worry about, you know, I want to create a place that my family doesn't have to worry about anything and they can travel just as much as I, I, I had when I was younger. Yeah. And that's what I'm trying to do with my kids too.

[00:54:14] I mean, we haven't traveled a lot, but we've been, we've been to Flagstaff, went to Flagstaff several years ago. We've been to Colorado twice, once flying out there and then once driving out there. And so, but, and we're going to Oregon in, uh, in June. We're going out there. I mean, it's going to be combination family trip. And then also we're going out there because it's going to be, we're going out there the weekend of Overland Expo.

[00:54:43] I mean, we were planning to go out there anyway, so it just kind of works out that we're like, we decided to plan our trip around that weekend. So question for you. So if like time and money was no option, like there, you had no budget, where would you go? I would love, first of all, first of all, with your car and then without your car. So with my car, I would love to do like a tour of the Western United States, like go

[00:55:12] through the four corners, you know, those States go up to Oregon, Washington, drive up and down the Pacific coast highway. I've done that before once, but it was in like 15 passenger van with some people from work. And so it wasn't not, not that I didn't enjoy it because it was a beautiful view and I'm glad that I was able to see it. But you know, that I would love to do just like a whole West coast tour. If I could just take as much time as I wanted to and money wasn't an object, I would love

[00:55:42] to do that. That'd be awesome. Yeah. What about without your car? I want to go to Germany. Yes. There's so many countries on my, my bucket lists. I, it's just an ever growing lists of places I want to go to. And I've never been out of the country. Really? So yeah, I've just, I've never really had the capability to go. And so, but I do like, I mean, if I were to go anywhere right now, if I, if somebody said,

[00:56:11] you can only go one place for your whole, you know, before, before you die, I would, I would want to go to Germany. There's just, there's something about it. There's such a great history there and there's a lot of great architecture there. The other thing I heard too is in Berlin, they have like a huge vegan scene, which is awesome because I'm vegan. So yeah, it would, I would really love to go check that out. So when you go out, uh, are you usually going out for like a day trip or are you going out

[00:56:41] for multiple days? If you're like, I'm going to go out and go explore an adventure. Uh, if I'm doing solo trips, most of the time it's a day trip. Uh, I, I have done multiple day trips with solo, but if I'm going with friends, I, I kind of want to do a multiple day trip. Um, I think anything more than a week starts to get a little bit taxing on you. Yeah. Uh, like especially this rally tech trip.

[00:57:09] Um, I loved off-roading in the snow. Um, the only thing is it was just almost too much snow. And especially since when we were off-roading with rally tech that it was towards the end of our trip. So we had already dealt with a lot of snow and sand and stuff like that before even off-roading with rally tech. And then I, when I, when I went with rally tech and going through all that snow, that was like the last bit of snow that I ever wanted to see again.

[00:57:39] Like it was super fun, but I'm like, okay, I want to go back to California. It's, it's sunny out there. I don't, I'm done. And I actually wanted to, to move to, to Oregon. But after, after that, I'm like, no, I'm, I'm good with not having rain like every single day snow. And I, as, as much as I, I love California and I hate California at the same time, I feel like California probably geography wise is one of, one of the, the, the better states to be in.

[00:58:08] Cause like with, with me and being in Sacramento, I am an hour from the mountains, hour or so amount from the mountains. I'm an hour or so from the beach. I, I can, I can go into the mountains and, you know, hit the snow and hit off-roading trails, go to the beach and have fun there. I mean, I can go a little bit up to towards the coast of Oregon and be, you know, be actually drive on the beach. So like where I am kind of is the middle point for like everything. Yeah. You suck.

[00:58:38] Which is awesome. No, no, it's not awesome. Wow. Okay. I see how you think. No, we, maybe I should go to Texas instead. Yeah. You should come to Houston. It's so fun here. We're having an off-road Subaru. It's a, yeah, we're very envious of people up in Pacific Northwest and California and the Northeast, Colorado, all these really cool states. I mean, we have stuff that's not terribly far away, but anything like anything that I would

[00:59:07] really, really want to get out to is, you know, like half a day, if not more. And it's just, but for me, yeah, it's a matter of time too. Plus Pearl is getting up there in miles. I mean, it's, you know, 125,000 miles now. Wow. And she still drives great. The only thing, the only issue I'm having right now is the center diff that apparently I need to get the viscous coupling replaced and then it should be fine. But I got to check with the shop on that.

[00:59:35] But, but yeah, I mean, it's, I'm glad I can still drive and for now, but at some point I'm gonna have to get it taken care of. But again, it's just like, it's a matter of money and time. So yeah, yeah. That's, I mean, I, there's a lot more things that I want to do to my car. And every time that I go over to, to not standard audio and, you know, check up on my car and I'm like, oh, I want to do this. Oh, I want to do that.

[01:00:01] And I'm thinking in the back of my head, I won't at least tell them about the ideas, but let them know, okay, I'm not going to do this right now. I'm going to do this later down the road because I can see the hours that it's taking them to do this. And it's like, okay, I want my car back. I don't, I don't want to keep adding more and more things for them to work on, because then that means that's going to push my car out further and further where, you know, I'm not going to see my car for like two months.

[01:00:28] So I, I give, give them the ideas of what I want to do so that they can kind of prepare for it. And then, you know, I'm, I'm super excited for, for this to, to be kind of done so I can actually hit the trails again. Yeah. So you posted about this waterproof grommet that was installed. What is that for? Uh, so because I have so many electronics in my car, um, they have to run some of them outside. Yeah. Yeah. So, so I wanted it to look clean.

[01:00:58] So, uh, the, the current build that I have right now, I have seven more moto, um, big bangers that are on the front of my car. And I mean, those things are ridiculously bright. They're, they're like, um, I was at 50,000 lumen each, or I think it was like 550,000 candela in total or something like that. It's ridiculously bright.

[01:01:23] Um, but before I had lights, uh, which they're, they're in Nihilites. They're, they're decent. I mean, Nihilites are, are pretty good, uh, for, you know, getting, you know, some light out there, but it, I wanted something a little bit better, but the, I had lights that are literally surrounding the entire car. So I had lights that are up front on the corners, on the sides and the back on the sides. Um, and I just had so many wires that I, I was running through on the windshield on the left side.

[01:01:52] I was running on the windshield on the right side. I had like, um, little sleeves that, that they would go into. So it would kind of hide everything and then route everything through my engine bay to my main battery. I don't have that secondary battery. So it was, it was a lot more complicated to, to try to route everything to the back. Like, so I figured I want to have room for the potential of upgrades down the line.

[01:02:19] Um, originally I was going to have them run it through the shark fin, but because they knew that I was going to be running a lot more wires, they said, we'll just drill a hole, make sure it's waterproof and everything like that. You don't have to worry about that. And they said, you know, if something happens, we're going to warranty everything. So, so not standard audio is, is I, I, I am truly a hundred percent thousand percent believe in, in the work that they've done with my car. Cause if they're, they're willing to warranty it and stuff too.

[01:02:48] Um, yeah, I'm, I'm happy with that. Are you like going for like some kind of record to have like the most wiring in a car? Yeah. Probably the most amount of weight that's been put in a Subaru cross-strikes. Yeah. You got a lot of stuff on it. I've, I've probably added just, just in the, the sound deadening material that was just on the floor was probably another a hundred pounds just on sound deadening material. So, I mean, I've, I've probably added maybe 1500 pounds.

[01:03:18] Uh, I'm actually going to, once, once I get my, my car back, uh, I'm going to weigh it and, and figure out kind of what, what needs to be done with my suspension. Cause my Ironman suspension just, it's, it's not, it's not holding up to that. So I'm eventually going to go to the, through Rally Tech and get that taken care of because it's sagging. Well, right now, right now it's not sagging at all.

[01:03:43] Cause I have no weight in my car, but once I put the weight in, then it's, it's sagging again. So I, I need to, to get that taken care of. What's your gas mileage like? 12. Close enough. I'm getting about 13 to 17. It kind of depends on, yeah, it kind of depends on, you know, how much of a lead foot that I have, but that's funny. Yeah. I'm getting like 27 to 33 normally. Yeah.

[01:04:12] Mine is like, I mean, according to, you know, the dash, it's like 26.2 right now. I was up to 27, not too long ago, but, and the gas is much less expensive here. Yeah. California and our gas tax and all the other stuff is not, not fun. How many miles do you have on it? Uh, 69,000 something. Pretty, I think almost, almost 70. In what year is it? 19.

[01:04:42] I know I, I was listening, uh, just, uh, yesterday I was listening to your, your daughter's, uh, podcasts and you talking about in a year you, you've done like 20 something thousand miles on it. I'm like, that is, that is crazy. If you could describe your cross trek in one word, what would it be? Uh, man. I, I, I don't know if I could really do like just one word. Um. Okay.

[01:05:09] It can be a couple or whatever you need to do. Um, I, I would say adventurous. I mean, it kind of goes inside with, with my personality. I, I think like your car is like an extension of your own personality. Um, I, I am adventurous. The car is adventurous and I'd love to go on as many trips as possible. Yeah. If you could drive somebody else's Subaru for a day, whose would it be and, and why?

[01:05:38] Um, it depends on the type of Subaru that we're talking about too. It can be any, it could be anybody's. If, if we're talking about. It could be the huckster, man. I actually watched, watched that, uh, or listened to that just a little bit before, before the podcast as well. Um, which actually I'll get, get into that in a little bit, but for off-roading, probably silver, silver bullet. Like the way, the way that, that, that gets sent.

[01:06:03] Like, I thought that I do a lot of sending of my vehicle, but that like all the jumps and stuff like that, that, that he does like, man, that, that would be awesome to, to be able to drive that thing and, and see something that's not as, of course, heavy as I, I have mine. Um, but like, if we're talking faster cars, you'd probably be the, the Hoon again. Like, I, I, that was probably kind of what got me into Subaru is, you know, watching

[01:06:31] Ken Block and, you know, going through all these different small, tight corners and stuff like that. Like that, that was so awesome. Like I, to be able to actually see that and I wanted to do the same, but then my, my kind of focus shifted into more off-roading stuff. Like I probably eventually will get a WRX down the line, but I don't, I don't know if I could do like, like Hoon again stuff with that. Like, I feel like I would want to lift my car, not, you know, lower it or anything like

[01:07:01] that. Like, like the ricer scene kind of does. Like, I, I appreciate the, you know, those, those kinds of cars, but when you drive a tank for the most part, not having, not having to worry about like curbing my, my wheels or not having to worry about, you know, scraping your front lip or anything like that. Oh yeah. Like, I don't, I don't know if I could do that. Yeah. I know this, like the apartment complex I live in, we have a pretty steep driveway and

[01:07:29] I see people with not like lowered cars, but just cars that are naturally lower just by design. And I see them like having to go at an angle and go really slow. And I'm like, I just go straight at it and don't have to worry about it. Being able to hit speed bumps at like 40 miles an hour. Like I love doing that, but I don't know, I might, I might down the line, I think probably when I get older and I start to calm down on my, my off-roading.

[01:07:57] I mean, I don't, I don't know if I'll ever calm down on my off-roading per se, but I, I think, you know, maybe down the line, I might lower it. But I think my current mindset is once I kind of get my, my cross track built out, I'll probably do like somewhat of a rally build and have more of a faster Subaru down the line. Yeah. I also, I saw on your Instagram page that you are a member of the Max Trax micro crew. What's your number?

[01:08:26] It is 521. Gosh, man, that guy's got so many people. Oh yeah. So the, I had kind of found the page just randomly scrolling through and I was, I think I was looking for, for recovery boards and randomly found, found that on, on Instagram. And, uh, I kind of asked him, you know, do we have to buy specifically for you from you? Cause I, I originally was getting to get the ones from him, which are orange, but then

[01:08:55] I'm like, well, I kind of want blue. Cause the orange just doesn't really fit as well with, with the blue cross track. And then I found a blue one and he's like, oh yeah, no, just don't, don't worry about it. Like, you know, you're, you're a part of the crew. It doesn't have to be specifically from me. Um, and then I, I post about it. Uh, which you, you see that, that one with me in that, um, uh, I don't know what you want to call it. I guess you could consider it a onesie, whatever. Um, and I, I have that. And apparently he didn't add a number to it.

[01:09:26] And then maybe like two or three months later, he was going through the post. He's like, I don't think I ever gave you a number. Did I? And I'm looking through the post. I'm like, no, I guess, I guess you didn't. So, I mean, I, I could have been maybe 400 and something. I don't know. I mean, I don't know if that number was associated with what I would have been. I didn't really look back at it, but I mean, being a part of it. I mean, I'm, I'm fine with, with that number either way.

[01:09:51] So you have some sponsors, like, do you want to just run through that list real quick? You've already mentioned some. Yeah. Yeah. So, so I have, um, not standard audio, which is of course doing like all the stuff that, that they're doing right now with my audio and everything like that. Um, I also have Kelly performance detailing, which is doing the detailing of my car. Uh, cause of course off-roading, I'm going to get dirty quite, quite a bit.

[01:10:19] Uh, Kelly, Kelly custom alignments. Uh, they're, they're doing the, the alignments and stuff in my car. And then I also have Sawyer, which I'm actually really excited about. They'd have water filtration systems. So when I'm going hiking, I'll be able to use that and not have to, you know, carry as much water on my back. Cause I carry a lot of weight with my, my camera setup. So water also adds a lot of weight.

[01:10:46] So then as long as I'm going to an area that has water, I can just fill up my pack with the, the Sawyer filter and I just fill, fill my water, a water bladder with the filter and then filter it into the bladder for my Camelback and be able to use it that way. So I'm not carrying throughout the entire, entire time there. Yeah. Um, and then I have like a whole bunch of like affiliates and stuff like that, that

[01:11:10] I've, some of them I've reached out to some of them I have, um, they've just kind of reached out to me, uh, for me cause just kind of looking at their products. I mean, do you want me to just kind of go down the list of, yeah. Okay. Um, so I have hitch fire. So hitch fire, basically they, they have a grill that attaches to the back of your hitch. Um, so I, I actually have, uh, pretty much every single sponsor and affiliate and stuff

[01:11:39] like you, you guys can kind of see through the posts that I've done recently, kind of explaining a little bit more about every single one. Um, diode dynamics. I've got, uh, I'm an ambassador for them. Uh, so you guys can get free shipping with, with my, my code. Uh, I'm a Amazon affiliate. Uh, I'm, uh, affiliated with iDoing, Blue Eddy, EcoFlow, uh, Novesite.

[01:12:06] Uh, actually some of these are actually with, with Cameron cause I am kind of, the group is with, uh, ultra trekkers is kind of with Cameron, uh, which is Tahoe treks as well as Chris, which is overland NA, which then he's actually changing that soon.

[01:12:23] Uh, Sawyer, WeBoost, Rigid Armor, Rally Tech, CBI, Cobra, Escort, Shiny Car Care, Trail Tech, Tady Brothers. Um, actually one of my other sponsors, uh, is the Unnoticed Car Shows. Um, they posted something about, um, you know, wanting to, to see if people wanted to,

[01:12:49] to be a sponsor and I reached out to them and they're actually in Pennsylvania. And I was actually, I was actually surprised that they actually picked me up as a sponsor. Yeah. Half all, all the way across the country. Yeah. Um, but they said they actually, they're going to be traveling this way towards California. And so they kind of wanted me to be like the initial stepping stone and to kind of be able to show people what they're going to be doing.

[01:13:16] Um, they should actually be out at Subie Fest, uh, in Arcadia. And then I'm actually going to try to see if I can go to Subie Fest in Texas as well. And so I might be, I'm, I may be out there as well. Nice. That'd be cool. Be nice to meet you. Oh yeah. Um, and then actually the, the three other ones would be Nexet, uh, Kelty Camping Gear and Osprey. So I've, I've quite a few different ones. Yeah. That's nice.

[01:13:42] I, I'm just trying to be able to, to be able to promote as many companies as possible. Um, that's kind of what I do as well. Like, I know you're kind of going to go a little bit of about, you know, me personally. Um, but I, I hope promote businesses as well. Yeah, no, that's really good. It's good for you. Good for them. How would you say that owning your Subaru has changed your life?

[01:14:07] Um, it's, it's opened a lot more doors, um, than I probably would have ever had before. Um, me working where I do, um, has opened quite a few doors, but then adding Subaru on top of that, um, has helped to, to bring more, but bring the community all around. Um, like I've, I've, I've talked with a lot of the dealerships. I've got good partnerships with, um, several of the dealerships.

[01:14:35] So the, the two that I've got really good, uh, um, communication with right now are, are shingle spring Subaru and, um, made a Subaru. So I, I'm actually trying to talk with Levi at made a Subaru to, to get a, a car meet for, you know, mostly off-roaders, but you know, any, any Subaru of course can, can show up, but I, I want to, because trail trackers is, is a lot more off-roaders than I want to kind

[01:15:03] of bring more off-roaders to that. Cause you, you, a lot of car, car shows and car meets, you don't see a lot of off-roaders in that. Like, I feel like the Subaru off-roaders don't fit in any category because you, you go to like a Subi dedicated meet. Most, most Subarus are, you know, nice clean cars and you don't really see as much of the off-roader community, but then you go to the off-road community and you have Jeeps and

[01:15:32] Toyotas and stuff like that. And so you don't, you're kind of the black sheep there as well. So I want to kind of create a one where you can, it can't, I mean, I I'd like to have, you know, Jeeps and Toyotas and stuff like that there as well. But most of the, the people that are actually kind of already a part of all trail trackers, they, they already are off-roading Subarus and it's already a lot of the group that I'm off-roading with already, but to be able to have a, a meet at, at the dealerships would be pretty cool as well.

[01:16:02] Yeah. Yeah. That'd be good. It'd be good for them to get some more exposure to the dealership. And then also people, like you said, have a place to come together and just hang out and show off their cars. Yeah. Do you think that you will always own a Subaru? I think that specific Subaru, the project vibe. Yes. I, I will run that thing into the ground. I will probably be buried with that thing.

[01:16:24] I think I will probably own more than just a Subaru, but I will always have Subaru. Yeah. Like, like I was saying, I know I want to get a WRX and, you know, potentially lift it. Maybe down the line, have a lowered one. I don't know. But I think for like, once I have a family, the, the cross track, especially what I've done

[01:16:49] to it now, it's not, it doesn't really work for, for having, you know, even, even like one kid because carrying all, all my gear plus, you know, electronics and like clothes and everything, it, it, even already with me being solo, it, I'm having to figure out space for just, just me. I don't need any kids in here. Get out of here.

[01:17:15] Um, I, I'm, I've kind of looked at, at the, the Sequoias. I I've looked at some of the, the Lexuses and like maybe a full runner or maybe a Tacoma. There's, there's other, others that I want to get down the line potentially for when I do have a family, but right now the Subaru works completely fine for me. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, so this is a little segment to get to know you a little bit better, but who is Scott?

[01:17:43] Um, I'm, I'm an adventure child at heart, outdoor enthusiasts who loves God, uh, love sharing adventures through like all the, the photos and videos that I've taken. Um, kind of like when I, when I was talking about where at work, um, so I actually managed a store that helps everyday people kind of grow their business by kind of helping them reach their goals through like promoting them in any, any way possible.

[01:18:12] Um, I'm actually, uh, the certified operator for, for UPS store and me being a certified operator and, and kind of learning that entire process has allowed me to grow all sorts of businesses and stuff like that. And that's, that's also why actually today I was, uh, had lunch with my family and we

[01:18:38] went to, to this restaurant and I saw that they were a family owned business. And so I kind of went to them and say, Hey, you know, what, what could we potentially do to, to help you guys out? And, you know, we kind of talked a little bit and found, found no different things that we might, might be able to do for them. Um, I, I always want to help businesses promote themselves. And of course, you know, it's helping us promote as well, because then more and more

[01:19:06] people come to us as a UPS store, uh, not many people even realize what UPS stores do besides shipping and, you know, maybe a little bit of copying and packing. Like not, not every store does everything, but like we do a lot. I mean, we do all sorts of copies. We do, um, banners, flyers, like all sorts of stuff. So we can actually help businesses promote themselves.

[01:19:36] Nice. Yeah, that's good. It's good to have that ability to do something that people may not even think about. Uh, what is a favorite memory from your childhood? Um, I would say just all the camping that we did. Uh, we, we would always camp at like Yosemite or Tahoe. We'd do Fallen Leaf Lake.

[01:20:01] Um, we'd go at least a couple of times a year, uh, in the summertime and, you know, just the camping experience, being able to be out in nature, go on hikes. I would always bring my bike. We would, uh, always go on different trails wherever there, there was. And then of course me being a kid, of course, I've got more energy than my parents do. So as, as they were just sitting around relaxing, I'd bring my bike out, my mountain

[01:20:28] bike and just start biking around just randomly throughout the, the, the campgrounds. And I just had so much fun as a kid. I mean, I'm, I'm an only child, so, you know, I've got to do something to entertain myself. And that, that was, that was what I did. Biking, just being in nature was awesome. So you talked about like what you do for work, but do you have a dream job?

[01:20:51] So I wouldn't say that I have a dream job, um, because really I don't want to be working a nine to five job for the rest of my life. Um, really you work a nine to five job, you're building someone else's dream. You're not really building your dream. Yeah. So that's kind of another thing with me working where I am. I have an opportunity to potentially own a UPS store. Oh, nice.

[01:21:19] And so that's kind of where I'm going towards is like, I, I had the opportunity to buy the stores, um, about almost four years ago now. Um, but I really didn't have the mindset of an owner. I had a mindset of an employee. And until I got the title of certified operator and went through the training and everything

[01:21:43] like that, I realized how much more of a potential I had and how much more I could promote us as a UPS store, but also help promote other businesses and other people. And that's kind of where I want to go is I want to be able to help as many people as possible with owning a UPS store. Yeah. That's, I mean, it's cause you working there for as long as you have and getting the experience

[01:22:10] and everything that's going to put you on a path to be able to own your own. And that'd be good. It's kind of good that you're building a plan for what you want to do because not a lot of people do that or not a lot of people have the mindset to do that. What is something that makes you want to get out of bed every day? Um, just getting my day started.

[01:22:33] Um, kind of having that same mindset of, you know, I own a couple of businesses too. So I, I, I do photography and videography on the sides, um, kind of wanting to just get the, the, the day going and start the grinds. Uh, I actually had started last year kind of waking up or going to bed around 10 and then waking up around like six, like six 30, seven o'clock.

[01:23:01] Um, and I had gone through, through a, like a daily regimen kind of a thing for a while. And then I went to Hawaii ball places and kind of, I stopped doing it cause you know, Hawaii, I just want to relax. And then I got back and I just didn't do it anymore. And now with, after the last, um, I'd say probably for the last month, I've been trying

[01:23:28] to get back into that swing of things and just being able to, to get up, go to bed on time and go to bed around 10 o'clock and wake up at six. At this point, my, my body will just naturally wake me up around six, six 30 anyway. Um, and I just want to get my day started and I do my stretches, you know, drink, drink my water, take a shower.

[01:23:52] I used to, to do all that stuff and it worked so much better. I felt so much better trying to, instead of waking up with an alarm, hitting snooze like 10 times and then rushing in the shower and then rushing to work. Like you're, you're not really, your, your body doesn't have enough time to really get started. So I want to, to kind of have that, that same thing.

[01:24:21] And that's, that's kind of where, where I am right now is I, that's what kind of gets me up and going. Yeah. Uh, what is something that makes you want to stay in bed? I don't, I don't know if I really have anything that, that wants me to stay in the bed now that I am in that habit of getting up because I don't really want to be lazy. Um, I mean, I know, I know we kind of had this conversation a little bit before the podcasts,

[01:24:50] like you, you get in that lazy state of, you know, doom scrolling through, through Instagram and stuff like that, realize I've just wasted like two hours of my day, just scrolling aimlessly through TikTok or Instagram or, or whatever. I don't, I don't want to just waste my life away by doom scrolling. I want to, I want to actually do something with my life and actually like be productive. Yeah.

[01:25:18] I think being productive is the key word and not just sitting around, not, you know, just not doing anything because then you look back and you're like, cause I do that sometimes, you know, and not, I don't really scroll through Instagram and I don't have a TikTok account, but, uh, there's times when I'll be watching TV cause I'm like, I just don't really feel like doing anything. So I'm going to watch TV. And then afterwards I'm like, there was other stuff that I needed to be doing that I could have gotten all this stuff done.

[01:25:46] And I just sat and watched TV for like two hours. But yeah, I mean, don't, don't get me wrong. I will doom school through, through Instagram sometimes, especially like when I, when I get through a post or like when I'm starting to try to do a post, I'm like, Oh, that looks cool. And then I start going, I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no. Stop it. I need to do a post. I need to get this out. Yeah. And then sometimes like, you know, when you post a reel, well, yeah. Do you, do you post a whole lot of rules or have you posted reels? Yeah. So, so like when you, when you post a reel, it goes through the upload process.

[01:26:15] It are automatically feeds you a reel to watch. So now you start watching the reel and then your things pops up and you're like, wait, I wanted to watch that. They do it on purpose. Yeah. And it, it pisses me off. Cause it's like, I want to watch it, but then I also want to go back to my own content. And so I have to catch myself as well. So, I mean, I, I'm not saying I'm perfect by any means.

[01:26:39] Um, I mean, I'm also not saying that I don't land bed sometimes too, but my mindset's always, I want to get up and get my day started because I know that if I rush to get to work then, or, you know, even if it's a weekend, weekend, if I rush to get out of beds or sorry, if I rush to, you know, get somewhere and not really have that time to, you know, get up naturally and everything, then you just don't really feel that great for the rest of the day. Yeah.

[01:27:08] I've even found, um, I know what you mean. I've even found like drinking water. So as soon as I wake up, I'll, I'll literally, I've got a glass actually quite literally right in front of me. I'll, uh, grab the glass. I'll go to the kitchen, fill it all the way up with water. And as I'm walking back, I will finish that glass of water before I get to my room. And then before I leave, I will fill it up again and drink another glass of water before either

[01:27:37] me biking to work or me driving to work. Because I want, I mean, your body is, you know, 95 or whatever percent water. You have to, to get your body kickstarted for the day. And then I will later on in the day, um, after, after about like an hour of being at work, then I'll, I'll, you know, have my, my breakfast. Cause then my body's kind of kickstarted. It needs food. I'm going to eat, eat my food as well. So I've kind of gotten into a regiment and, you know, starting my day.

[01:28:07] Yeah, no, that's good. That's good. What would be your best bit of advice to give to some, to give to someone about anything? Um, I've actually told this to a lot of customers, uh, focus on the positives, not on the negatives. Um, you look at what the media really is portraying and, you know, there's a reason why the media

[01:28:33] really only focus on focuses on the negatives, uh, because our, our natural instinct is to, to really look at the negatives and, you know, we, we thrive off of that for some reason. And you have to kind of flip the script a little bit. And, you know, people say, well, no, I can't afford this. You know, I can't do that. I can't, I can't go on these trips.

[01:28:56] I can't off road, but really you have to think your subconscious is always active. You know, like as we're, we're having this conversation, you know, your subconscious, my subconscious, they're thinking in the background. I mean, I don't, I don't know how it works. I just knew it does. And I found that if I'm consuming negative things, you know, I'm constantly scrolling

[01:29:23] through Instagram and, you know, seeing, oh, this person did so much better than I did kind of a thing. Um, you know, constantly watching the news and all the negative stuff that they, they talk about. I become that person. I become that negative person. And I even found that at work too, um, is that you, you start having a bad day and you affect other people around you.

[01:29:48] And I, I've even told my employees, you know, if you're having a bad day, you know, you need to, you need to deal with that on, on your own time. Like I know, you know, you don't want to have that kind of two-face attitudes. Um, and I've, I've had customers who's like, I've had a bad day at work and I have to have that, that, you know, oh, hi, how's it going? Kind of face, but the true customers that are, are regulars, they know when I'm having a bad day.

[01:30:17] And it actually makes me feel, feel good about myself because then I know that, you know, I'm loved. I have people who, who care about me and that if you're, if you're constantly surrounding yourself with people who are bringing you down, you are going to become those people and you are going to bring other people down.

[01:30:41] But if you surround yourself with people who are thinking like you, or you think like them, you, you surround yourself with people who are successful, you become those people. I know we kind of had this, this conversation a little bit, uh, also before the podcast, like you, you are the top five people that you hang around the most. So, you know, you hang around drug addicts and alcoholics and stuff. You become that person.

[01:31:08] But if you surround yourself who people, you know, who, you know, don't drink all the time, who, you know, don't do drugs and stuff like that, you now become that person. And those friends who were like, we're doing those drugs and alcohols and stuff like that. They'll see it. If you stop hanging around those people, you will real, the, the, those quote unquote friends will realize it and they will potentially change because they want to hang out with you.

[01:31:36] And if you don't want to hang out with them because, because of, you know, like you don't want to do alcohol, then they might follow suit as well. Yeah. It's, uh, it's definitely, you don't, you want to try to be around positive people. You just want to be around people that make you feel good too. Yeah. And, you know, naturally I don't, you know, I don't think people want to feel down and feel bad all the time. You know, you want to feel good.

[01:32:02] So it's good to find those positive people in your life and just surround yourself with those. And it doesn't have to be a lot of people. It could just be, you know, two or three people, but you definitely want to be able to feel good. And those are the people that will help you turn around a bad day and turn it into a good day. So, well, thank you for taking the time to record with me and, uh, the guest 201. Yeah. That's awesome to be, I mean, two, 201.

[01:32:32] That's that. There's a lot of people that have been on. Yeah, it is. And it's, uh, it's cool because I've met quite a few people that have been on the podcast too. It's up over 60 people now, I think. So yeah. Well, I mean, if I, if I, if I go to, to Subie Fest, in Texas, I'll definitely look for you. Yeah. Yeah. I'll add you to my list. Well, thank you so much for taking the time, Scott. I appreciate it.

[01:32:59] And, uh, it was great talking to you and, uh, I wish you much success in everything that you're doing and, uh, hope you get your car back soon. Yeah. Thanks. Yeah. You're welcome. All right. See ya. All right. Bye.

[01:33:24] And, uh, all of the wires and everything else that you're putting into your build. It's, uh, it's pretty incredible what you're doing with it. And, uh, hopefully the sound system sounds amazing. I saw that he has some posts, some updated posts about what's going on with it. and it looks really, really good. So go give him a follow if you're not already doing so. It's texttrekadventures on Instagram and show him some Subi love. Again, thank you all so much for tuning in

[01:33:54] to another episode of the Subi and You podcast and don't forget to tune in next Monday for part two of this Subi event series with the Subi scoop. Hope you all have a great week. Much Subi love. Raph. 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.

[01:34:24] You can find the Subi and You podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcast, Spotify, and many more. To support the podcast, please head over to patreon.com slash subiandupodcast. 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.

[01:34:53] That's all for this week. You You you