Welcome to Botches Off -Road. Join us as we talk
about everything from gear reviews to trail stories,
tent camping to rock landing, and all things
to do with the outdoors. I ain't gonna lie, the
intro's a mouthful. I think I'm gonna shorten
it down to, welcome to Botches Off -Road. I hate
you all. Yeah, or just, welcome to Botches Off
-Road. I think they get it now. We're, what,
over 100 episodes in. No, we're at, like, you
know what? That's a good question. What are we
at? I'll even add the one from last week that
I was supposed to post today, but I was at the
hospital all night, so it didn't get done. So
it'll be done tomorrow. Which other one? No,
I'll get it. I need time. I'll get there. 68.
And season two. Guys, season two's almost over.
When are we done with season two? I don't even
know that one. What on what? Do we have an episode
that marks the end of season two, or are you
just talking January, the new year? January,
the new year. Oh, okay. I don't remember if we
talked about that or not. So in season one, we
had 22 episodes. We have 68, so that's math hard.
You got it. Give me a second. So 80. Is today
100 episodes? I don't know. You're the one mapping
over there. Maybe. I think our 30 -minute episode
would have been 100 episodes. Oh, no, we're at
90 episodes. We're at 90. We got 10 episodes
to go. Would that get us to January? We're at
91 episodes. Might get us to January. We might.
Need two episodes a week. Yeah, we're supposed
to be getting back to 30s in an hour. We are
pretty much going to hit 100 episodes in January.
So do we want... Yeah, we'll get back to our
two episodes a week. We have to do them all month.
And then I'll release episode 100 on January
1st. What's that going to be? The interview with...
I'm upset you didn't take some lavaliers and
recording and go and interview someone down there
at Benji's. Could have stole something. Could
have talked to Baker. Was Baker there? Yeah,
Baker was there. Oh, God, I hate that I missed
these. I told him that you were going to be upset
that you missed him. I told him he's like your
hero. He is. I know. So, like, in all honesty,
if you look at the Overland world, and there's
not a lot of bigger guys that do it, and he.
He does it very well. He's very good at his videography.
He's very good with just the way he puts together
all the episodes. And it's just cool seeing another
guy out there doing that that represents me in
that sort of way. Because a lot of them are skinny
dudes. Gavin's internet sucks. Say what? Oh,
you froze? Oh, see, that's what I was going to
say. Like, you guys did that for me earlier.
But, like, yeah, it's just a lot of the other
times it's just skinny dudes. And I don't know,
man. It's not as relatable sometimes. Yeah. And
so it's just cool to see. Like, I also watch,
like, bigger hikers. Like, these guys are big
dudes, but they still hike, and they hike a shit
ton. And it's just cool. What I think is cool
is Caleb does it with family and explains how
he does it with family. That's what I'm all about,
too. That's my biggest thing is I want to open
that up for other families. I want to make it
so it doesn't seem so hard to do. I'm on a couple
groups. One's camping in Michigan. One of the
biggest things that they... complain at grape
about is like camping with kids and how much
stress it induces and it's like and granted i
only have one but we started really early he
got really into it and and tips and tricks along
the way man i mean like it's good to have other
people that like push that out there and i've
been a long time commenter on trying to help
some of these people especially like um like,
uh, new parents. That's like the biggest thing.
I think that's more up my alley because I have
more experience with that right now. And I know,
and this is not my words, so don't take it from
me, like, just like gloating, but, um, and Rebecca,
they saw us with Jasper, um, you know, in our
first year. Uh, Jasper pretty much grew up around
them guys too, while we were camping along with
all our other camp friends. And, and they were
like, yeah, no, we could do that. Like they,
they found out they were pregnant. They're like,
yep, we can do that same thing. And that's like
what I, that, that made me kind of proud to hear
that. Like to, to know that, you know, maybe
they, not that I didn't directly influence them,
but they saw that I could. So they were like,
yeah, we could, we could do that same thing.
And that's, that's. like what i like to see so
and that's really cool because now not only has
everybody in our little groups got to see jasper
grow up from i think we started with him in the
groups around six months old seven months old
and now he just turned two a couple days ago
which happy birthday to my little buddy four
days ago he turned two that's why gavin couldn't
record the day that me and mark were going to
be able to and then ended up having to record
alone was because the jazz so yeah happy birthday
to my little buddy but yeah and that's so two
years um and now everybody's got to grow up with
him he knows everybody they're just like distant
aunts and uncles and and now you know this year
kai um which is ed and rebecca's son and he's
doing the same damn thing. They're taking him
out everywhere. He's having a blast, and it's
just really cool to watch him grow up in that
setting. A lot of kids don't get that, and it's
just cool because, you know, they're going to,
I mean, Jasper's great, and he's great outside.
I mean, you keep him cooped up inside in the
house, and that's where the monster really gets
crazy, but, you know, he's made for out there.
Oh, yeah. i know how that goes i got one of those
too and it's cool see with yours it's the same
kind of thing and you're learning that on the
fly too like you you didn't get the you know
the infant part but you're getting the immediate
toddler stage and that's kind of hard to to start
without having the um this sounds weird but like
the pre -training like with jasper With Jasper,
we kind of pre -trained him for what we're expecting,
how to act around fires, et cetera. So now that
he's in there, he's pretty well accustomed to
everything. And then you got Jaxie, right? Yep.
Yeah, Jaxie. Trained completely improperly. That's
just the best way to put it. It is. It's trained
completely improperly for the outdoors and what
to expect. And now he's getting, I think my last
time we camped around, last time we were outdoors
together with him, he was doing pretty good.
So, I mean, he's, he came, he, and I guess all
boys are going to just flock to it, but it's
cool. When we were out Friday, you know, usually
we go on wheeling trips and everyone's kids fucking
suck, dude. But, like, Friday, Jaxie, he was
the only kid there. He was fine. He hung out
in the truck if he didn't want to get out. When
he did get out, he just went and played in the
snow. Yeah. He stayed by. Yeah. He was great.
Kids are not easy by any means. So, I mean. I
still find his comment. Friday Hill areas. Which
one? Which one? The sandbox. Oh, yeah. So we
get done wheeling and we're driving through New
Wago on our way home. Actually, we're on our
way to Andreas. Yeah. Because we got Andreas
as a group. And on the way there, he's like,
Uncle Alex, can we go back to the big sandbox
and jump the truck again? That's crazy. I don't
even – which one was that? Silver Lake. Silver
Lake. Oh, okay. I'm sitting here thinking, like,
Everett, where we had all the sand pits and stuff.
No, I – so I went up Test Hill, and then coming
down Test Hill, the spot where I was coming down,
there was, like, a whoop that was hidden, and
I hit it at, like, probably 60, and I got, you
know, seven, eight foot of air. Like, it was
– I was flying. That's cool. I mean, Jasper's
the same way with just going out on trails. Like,
to get him to do things around the house, like,
hey, do you want to go out on the trail? Do you
want to go on a trail ride? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay, then you have to get your shoes on. Okay.
He's just that adamant about it. He's so quick,
too. Yeah. So talking about Friday reminded me
of another really funny thing. So there's this
mud pit that we're all kind of skirting around
and going through. And so it was my turn, and
I hit it, and all of a sudden my truck just goes,
bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, and stops
moving. And I was like, fuck, dude, did I just
blow up my transmission? No, Mercy's dumbass
bounced into the shifter and put it in neutral.
Yeah, usually that's Jasper in the passenger
seat. He tries to shift it either into four low
or four high or into neutral. And it's my fault
I put his. old wooden toy as the shifter but
uh yeah i don't think it would have mattered
anyway like he's he knows what they do when i
tell him he can't play with that he goes to the
ignition to go turn the truck off like he he
knows the deal he's he's not stupid like i just
i dropped in this hole i was going through it
no problem so i'm just pop pop pop pop pop i'm
like what the hell then i just put it in drive
and drove out like it was nothing whereas mark
just went Skirt. I tried going through a two
-wheel drive. That was a bad idea. Yeah. Yeah.
You should have known that. Yeah. Man, I tell
you what, man. Next time we have another winter
storm where it just rains cats and dogs out,
me and Alex, we got to go out and just fucking
go drive. Yeah. Go drive, go wheel, just go down
prairie or something. I... i've said this before
like i like wheeling with both groups right btm
and mint state tours that it's a very different
feel in each group so in mint state tours it's
like you're trying to get through the trail right
you don't want any slowdowns you don't really
want anyone get stuck you just kind of want to
get through it with beyond the mitten it's like
we're trying to get stuck and the fun times we're
getting people out of it Like, it was, oh, dude,
it was a fucking hit. I'm a very particular person
about this. I like to watch other people get
stuck. I like to help them get out. But I don't
like to be the one that's stuck. So I'll take
the bypass, go around, and then I'll hook the
strap up to Alex and then pull him out. No problem
with that. Done that before. A couple times.
And I enjoy that, and it works. You know, it
works. You know, I do less damage to my rig.
I still have a blast. Alex can feel like he can
do whatever he wants. Not that it matters either
way. He'll do it whether I'm there or not. But
winch. It's just nice when there's a solid. And
the thing is, too, is winches really instill
that confidence. And it's kind of a false confidence
because you're really like, well, you know what?
I got a winch. So if I get stuck, I'll just pull
myself out. A lot of the times you get fucking
stuck. And then you're like, well, I guess I'd
better winch. Like, that's kind of a false confidence.
And I like that because then you start using
it. Yeah. That's what it's there for. Yeah, this
is true. But, like, for me, winches are if you
get stuck. You're not supposed to get stuck,
though. Like, that's my thing. No, go get yourself
stuck. That's half the fun of wheeling. Yeah.
I think half the fun of wheeling is watching
you recover. I like watching the recoveries.
Yeah, but if no one did anything dumb, how would
there be recoveries? Well, I mean, that's why
I'm with you guys. Safety officer, remember?
That's why I have all the recovery gear, and
I watch you guys get stuck, and we go from there.
Well, I'm the fun police, the fun officer. And
not in the sense of I keep you from having fun.
I do the fun things. I don't know. I think Mark's
the fun officer. Mark always hits everything
way harder than everybody else. And I feel like
Alex is the test. He's the test dummy. He goes
through it first. Yup. It's possible. Then Mark's
like, sweet. Let's floor it. So then he floors
it. And then I'm like, yup. Not after seeing
those two guys go through it. Maybe I'm not gonna.
No. To be fair, Mark would be a better test dummy
because if Mark can get through it, I know I
can get through it. But if I can get through
it, we don't know Mark can get through it. I
think we watch you and we watch the flex. We
watch how hard it is because a lot of the times
it's you, me, then Mark. Yeah. Because I try
to watch Alex a lot to how he wheels and stuff,
what lines he takes, and not do that so that
I don't get stuck. So a lot of the times, I'm
watching that. Because I go wheeling and I'm
like, I'm in Michigan, okay, everything's easy.
What's the hardest way to go? And Gavin's like,
I just want the easiest way. Yeah, I just want
to get through it with the least amount of mechanical
damage or stress, right? Like, I'll go through
the same thing, but I won't on purpose take the
hard line. I'm trying to put the least amount
of stress on my truck as possible so that I can
wheel for three years without having to do any
major repairs. Now that I've wheeled for two
years, I'm coming up on where I have to start
doing repairs. Yeah. Hey, repairs are half the
fun too, dude. Building is fun. I hate it. I
wish I loved it like you guys. I really do. But
here's the thing. You break something. You upgrade
it so you can't break it the same way again.
I break something. I can't afford to get the
cool stuff to upgrade it. And then I also can't
afford to spend as much on groceries. So that's
where that like comes into it. It's not so fun.
Dude, I will 100 % admit that we have gone two
weeks living off of ramen noodles and like turkey
breast to afford truck parts. I wish I could.
But I am also feeding two other people that don't
want that. Three. Same. I'm sorry. Because I
also feed her dad. So I make all the meals. I've
got two. I've got two. But I just say, we're
broke this week. And they put up with it. Yeah.
I probably end up getting eaten for one of those.
We're doing good, though. We're getting better.
We're getting better into the money thing. I
think this winter is going to be mostly focused
on paying that off, getting the few little extras
that I want to get, like a diesel heater, and
then getting the parts, the replacement parts,
so that I can do everything all at once. You
know, like ball joints, wheel bearings. Wheel
bearings. Do you have them? I might have one.
Brian might have gave me one or two. Well, that's
good news. He gave you front calipers too, right?
He gave me front... Well, he gave me calipers.
I don't remember if they're front or rear. I
want to say they're rear. But... Gotcha. Still,
I'll have to look because I think he might have
gave me a wheel bearing. Interesting, interesting.
Also, weird topic, but my eyes are kind of blue
right now. Yeah, you looking up but not looking
at the camera didn't help. Does that help? Wrong
camera, but yeah. Really? Middle. Yep, right
there. That camera, whatever that camera is.
I don't know. You have three different cameras
you were looking at. No, I have two, but. I didn't
know which one was which. I'm sorry. Okay. I
should have more of your head than what it does
in this one. Say what? The one that you were
looking at. Is that like up top, up top? Yeah,
that would be on your head more than face. Yeah,
that's way higher. Yeah, it's not even. I always
forget which one's the hooked up one. I got two
of them for Christmas. Putting them on monitors
is a good place to store the extra water. Oh,
God. Yeah, I mean, Poker Run, well, that Everett,
that twisty trail that we did here, it's probably
been the hardest one that I've had to do. But,
man, I tell you the difference between last Poker
Run last year to this year. I mean, granted,
there wasn't snow. But between the tires, the
experience, the slop, it was a whole different
game. And just think, we're coming up on another
one. Yeah. I don't know how that's going to...
I haven't heard anything about that. I'm excited.
Poker Run was fun. And we're teaming up with
Busted to Build. Oh, are we? Yeah. Yeah, we're
forming the B team. Botches Off -Road and Busted
Built. And she started t -shirts, so. That's
cool. I didn't know that's why you asked. Yeah,
that's why I asked for sizes. No, that'll be
fun. I will hopefully have whatever's going on
with my truck figured out before then. Like I
said, Friday I'll probably stop by so we can
try and just get it pinned down because. I would
be really, really, I don't know how I feel about
going back there and doing it again in shittier
conditions. Man, I don't even want, dude, the
water right now already is turning me off. Like,
I don't know if I want to dunk my truck back
through that shit. Oh, hell yeah. I'm so down.
Well, it wasn't so bad when we went through it,
but when me and Mark went through it last year.
There was some big ass ice chunks. I'm just like
waiting for one of those to get like put up into
my fan or like because we were sinking our fucking
trucks there for a second. Oh, I drove the black
truck last. Yeah, dude, you're going to get a
rerun. Oh, God. And I was like so scared of breaking
that thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it was a terrible
ride. I remember because you didn't want to keep
going because you were hurting so bad. Yeah.
Because I was like, well, fuck it. We made it
through this, this, and this. Let's keep going.
And you're like, eh, I think we should stop.
But that truck is getting the same shocks that
were on my 4Runner last year, so that problem
will go away. So we're going to have to replace
them after, like, 10 miles? Why? Didn't your
shocks blow out? Oh, no, not those. Okay. Pretty
sure I was like, didn't we go to like a Riggs
and Coffey, come back, and they were blown out?
Yeah. When we got to Riggs and Coffey. Yeah.
I put new shocks on, got two Riggs and Coffey,
and they were bad. And then when I tried to send
them back and get warranty back, the freaking
hurricane hit and destroyed North Carolina where
the warehouse was. You've put a lot into your
truck this year. A lot. Dude. It's insane. Long
travel, roof rack. There's more. There's more.
35s. Yep, I did tires, winch, winch bumper, lights,
you know, the solar panel, switch panel. Oh,
God, what else? Oh, roof rack also, boxes. Yeah,
I did a switch panel too. I did two new bumpers,
skin plate. Switch panel. Log light, switch panel,
rooftop. Someone got a new radio, didn't they?
Mark, didn't you get a new radio? Or handheld?
Or whatever? No. Yeah, you got the. Handheld
with the turn knobs. Yeah. I was like, someone
got something. Single den. I did a lot. Yeah,
they're definitely not the same trucks they were
a year ago. No, I mean, even like the configuration,
my configuration for camping, your configuration
for camping, everybody's configuration has changed
quite a bit. Oh, yeah, camping has been a change
for me and Alex a lot this year. I added the
swag, the shitter house. I like that you guys
are more independent than you were when you started.
That's about it. Well, no, like, I don't know.
Like, when I think we first started, it was very,
like, everybody threw everything and you guys
shared one tent or one or two tents. And now,
like, everybody's got a single tent for themselves.
Like, you guys have, like, your cooking situated
between. Cooking's the same. It's one kitchen
for both trips. You have it set up in, like,
your boxes set up there. He's got his boxes set
up. Like, I just mean, like, you guys have kind
of... Yeah, the packout plan finally got implemented.
Oh, the trailer. And that's... The trailer. You're
forgetting, like, the biggest one. Like, the
trailer build and the whole camp trailer build
for that. I mean, it's been a hell of a year.
Like... Our stuff is still very much so shared.
I mean, that was the whole point in Botches was
we could get out and do stuff and not all of
us had to buy separate equipment. Because a lot
of it's more than one person can use. So, like,
yeah, we haven't really... Tent's about the same.
Me and Kaylin share a tent. The only difference
is Alan has his own tent now. Well, I mean, like,
your tent setup has changed. Like, light fighters
and your Wagaboo or... Whatever it's called.
Yeah, swag. Swag. I was just thinking of some
Australian name. I couldn't think of it, but
yeah. Wallop. Wallop, yeah. Wallaboo. Kangaroo
and wallaby. But yeah, the swag definitely changed
my camping layout a shit ton. Dog swag. Yeah,
I even forgot about that. I've got a kid this
year. Like, the dog swag is... I always say this.
At first, you think it's like the dumbest thing
ever, right? It's just a tent for your dog. But
at the same time, that dog, it makes him so much
more comfortable at camp. And you too. He's not
up your ass. He's got his own space that he can
go to whenever he wants. He gets away from everybody,
kind of resets, and then he comes back to play.
So what's one thing you thought you would be?
that you would have this year that you didn't
actually get? Like, because for me, like, I had
plans much bigger than what ended up happening
this year. But, like, so is there anything that,
Mark, Alex, anything that you planned that was
going to happen that was, yep, yep, this next
year, this is what's going down, and then it
never did? I'm still riding on my shitty factory
seats that are all ripped to shreds. Yep, I remember
you talking about going to Corbeau. I shouldn't
even remember that name, but you've said it so
many times. I'm definitely getting Corbeau seats
this winter, though, because I'm sick and tired
of it. Heated. You going to do a little heated?
No. A little heated section? Nope, no heated
section. So here's the thing. So Corbeau actually
just came out with a seat I really like. I'll
send it to the group chat and I guess we'll link
it in the show notes. The problem is that I'm
not getting actual Corbeau seats. I'm getting
seats made in the same factory that aren't labeled
Corbeau for like a fraction of the cost. Oh,
fuck. How do I find these things? What about
you, Mark? Anything that you thought you were
going to have this year that you were just like,
shit. Didn't happen, wasn't in the plans. Nothing
I could think of, in all honesty. That's good.
That's kind of what you want, right? Yeah. You
want to be able to achieve everything that you
were trying for. I mean, you got your bumpers.
Yeah. You got your roof rack. You got your spare
tire carrier. You're pretty much everything,
man. You even got a new exhaust here recently.
That wasn't planned, but... Yeah, right. So...
I think the only thing was packout mounts in
the cab of the truck, but that has changed because
don't really need that space for packouts quite
yet. Right. So... Can I not find these seats
on their website anymore? That actually makes
me sad. No more for you. I think the big... I
think the biggest surprise this year was getting
almost all the camp stuff out and in one system
pretty much now. Yeah. Yeah. Both cots and chair
and then the rest of the tent set up. Yeah. I
was quite surprised by that one. Yeah, it really
does help, too, space -wise. I mean, we really
made a lot of room by just consolidating. But
also, like, we don't need... to carry all the
chairs inside the truck. I found a place outside
of the truck for them. And then we picked up
a few more gadgets, like a stove, fans, stuff
like that, that kind of help with just camp life
in general. Okay, so they did a limited run,
and they're all sold out. But I sent the video
to the group chat. They were sick, dude. Like,
they were the perfect seats for my 4Runner. I
think for mine, the only thing that I didn't
get that I planned on getting this year was a
diesel heater and a rooftop tent. I got the roof
rack. I got pretty much everything else. I think
the rooftop tent was the big one, and the one
that I had been planning on getting for now a
year and a half. Surprise, surprise, guys. Big
news. You guys probably already heard about it,
and I probably already mentioned it, but 4x4
Colorado is officially going out of business,
filed for - Oh, that's the one you were going
for? Yep, for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. And they
screwed so many people. They had $421 ,000 in
assets and $1 .3 million in liabilities at the
time of filing. Yeah, they screwed so... Like,
I'm glad you didn't order that tent, dude. I'm
so glad you didn't. Yeah, they just got so fucking
behind on every... They were just growing so
fast, they couldn't keep up. Then they started
fucking people over. And the thing is, you can
go find their tents. They're still made. They're
all over Alibaba. I know, I've seen them. Because
all 4x4 Colorado was was a rebranding. Yep. That's
all they did. They just rebranded... Which is
just crazy. I mean, you look at its revenue sharply
declined, dropping from $3 .6 million the previous
year to $1 .3 million. And they're not the only
one, dude. It's like the rooftop game in general
is collapsing right now. 23 -0 is pulling out
of the U .S. They haven't announced it, but you
can see it happening. Yeah, it's just sad. And
I think half of it is just how hard it is. and
how costly it is to get things over here, which
it is what it is. We all have to kind of live
with that right now. That and the amount of people
going back to ground tents. Yeah, yeah. There
is a lot of people going back to ground tents.
If I was to ever – I tried the pop -up style
tents. They just take too much space. They do.
Uh, and then us packing it back into our fucking
bag after using it for two days in the rain,
me and Alex and Sienna were doing it together
because, and we were just all kind of like, yeah,
this is a fucking pain in the ass. To, to be
fair, that was one of like the largest pop -up
dents you can buy. And it wasn't a good one.
And, and so, I mean, I haven't even opened this
since. It's probably fucking molded right out.
But like, like it was soaking wet. There was
dirt all over it and shit. And I'm just like.
You know, I can't shake this thing out properly.
It's all got all the frame inside of it and everything.
It's like you can't shake it out. You can't flip
it upside down. You spray it out. You can't.
You set it up, you wash it, and you put it away.
And I don't have a hose. Like, I don't have the
way to, like, spray these out effectively. So
it's just like it's just not working. And it
was too big for us. Sienna and I were sleeping
in it. We're like. This just feels so unnecessary.
It was. 100%. If you were to get a pop -up tent,
you don't need that one. If I was to do any pop
-up tent, it'd be closer to the style of the
famous ones that everyone's using. Gazelle? Yeah,
it'd be closer to that style, but it probably
wouldn't be a Gazelle unless I got a crazy deal
on them. Something like the Acacia would be really
good for you guys. I'd like the Acacia too, but
we really need something that takes space out
of the truck, not puts more in. Put it on the
roof. I don't want to have to put it on the roof
while I'm driving through. I don't want to have
to throw it on the roof every night when we go
to a different spot. It's not that bad. I don't
know. Maybe it's not, but I just like... trailing
all day and then getting it off of the roof and
throwing it down there and putting it together
and then packing everything up throwing it back
on the roof strapping it down it's just like
you could really if that if that's what you're
looking for you should really look at like a
bushman style uh uh awning where you just pull
the awning out and then throw the bushman's uh
enclosure on and then boom you're done You mean
like a side awning for the truck where you have
the, like it zips onto the awning part, the roof?
Yeah, well, some of them, like the 230 one's
fully enclosed and it just clips on. I've seen
those. I've definitely tossed that around. I
don't know. Like, if you did a 90 -degree awning,
which is the one that just pulls straight out,
I'll send you a link to one. No, I mean, I know
what you're talking about. I get it. It's been
a thought to actually do that with one of the
270s. But I just, I don't know. Because the only
downside to these is the floor. Like, we got
to figure out a floor situation. No, the Bushman
hasn't. The one I sent you, it's got everything.
A full tent that just clips to the outside or
to your awning, and then boom, it's a tent now.
Yeah, I'd be interested in looking up reviews
and setups for this style tent. Gavin's gone
again, guys. I haven't really looked too much
into this. You still hear him, but we don't.
What? Oh, you were gone again. I was announcing
to the listeners that you were gone, but then
I remembered that you're recording independently,
so they still hear you. Oh, don't worry. I'm
going to have to flip my... my time before because
I just pressed record instead of going to a new
session or 30 minutes. Oh, nice. I'll have to
clip that. I forgot. I forgot to do the cough
button. Yeah, dude. Like really a Bushman style
for you guys would be really good. Yeah. And
then get like, you know, get a, a two person
like queen sized, uh, caught of some kind. Yeah.
I just, We'll see. We'll see where it takes me.
That's like, aside from a swag, I'd say that's
almost the lightest you can go with like overland
style camping. Yeah. I mean, and the thing is
like right now our tent doesn't take up much,
much more than what a typical beach towel does.
Yeah. And it doesn't take you all that long.
No, it only takes us, I would say probably. two
minutes at the tops with rain fly and then you
gotta put your bed in it but yeah yeah which
we have a good thing going we gotta have a good
system like i do you know i help set it to start
the tent she gets in it with the inflator the
kid goes in with her she fills everything up
gets all the bedding ready while i start breaking
down camp and getting everything cooked so the
only The only issue I see with your tent is you've
got to put the rain fly on separate. So if you're
setting up in the rain, everything inside is
going to fly. Yeah, we've done this a couple
times now. We'll set up the rain fly first before
we get the tent even out, and then we just throw
everything under the rain fly and work under
the rain fly. So, I mean, obviously everybody,
like, there's ways to get around it, and, yeah,
that's an inconvenience. I still want to go the
rooftop route, but I think if I don't do an Alibaba
tent, who knows how long. I mean, our sixth person's
really done us well. That's the one with the
fly that goes all the way to the ground, right?
Both of them do, yeah, but it's the blue one,
the bigger one. Yeah, I like that. I mean, it
was good for $100. So, yeah, I mean, that one's
done us well. And, you know, the only thing it
doesn't do great with is like 40, 50 mile an
hour winds. It starts to bow pretty good, but
that's, you know, we had sand stakes on it this
year when we took it out to Superior, and it
wasn't as high as winds as last time, but we
hit probably 30 mile an hour winds, and it was
bowing in a little. But, I mean, again, for $100,
and it's a massive tent, so I can't really complain
too bad about it. next year i think we're going
to continue along with that until we find a rooftop
that you know that we really want but otherwise
we're not i don't think i'm going to push for
it as hard as i wanted to this year just because
we're doing okay like we got we have this setup
pretty well dialed in so i'm not gonna lie i
wish that i thought of a bushman before i bought
the swag because I would actually love that.
I'd be really interested to see setup take down
and then, like, testing. Because having that
as a, you know, the other cool thing about that
would be the hinges, the hinge donning, being
able to do that, to hinge it up to where it sits
on your roof and then pivot it down. I know.
It'd be, I mean, it wouldn't work with my current
roof rack, but. yeah i i don't know i i really
like the idea of the bushman and if i'm not sleeping
in it i don't see it as worth it like if it was
my tent right yeah it'd be perfect but if i'm
doing it just to have more space it's no longer
worth it yeah no the only time i could see one
of those bushman tents being like really effective
or worthwhile is in winter camping like having
just a nice room that you could set up having
a little diesel heater in there and have two
or three guys go in there play some poker drink
a little bit before you can't go to bed but but
the downside to that is now if you want to go
wheeling you've got to tear it down in the snow
typically yeah or you just get it Or you just
get the Viva Canopy we've got and do the same
thing with more space, and you don't have to
tear it down to go. Yeah, but our two styles
of wheeling, usually when you're wheeling six
hours a day, you're not packing shit up in the
middle of the night to go out and do more. Like,
you're done. Yeah, but winter wheeling, you're
not doing that as much. Winter camping, I mean.
Because there's, one, not as many places as you
can go. There's not. you're limited right so
you're pretty much doing setup and take down
when you're done yeah i mean it's not from what
i've seen a winter camping um and the very little
i've done of it it was very cut and dry like
we don't even hang out much like when when i've
done it and this was years ago before i was even
doing the overland thing but it was a lot more
of like build a fire make your food in the fire
Once everybody had what they wanted to eat, it
was pretty much get in your tents and get warm,
and that was it. That's the boring kind of winter
camping, though. The fun kind is when you have
a nice big 12x12 awning and you get to play cards
and stoke the wood stove and have a good time.
Yeah, I mean, I can definitely see the appeal
to that. One thing, if we want to talk about
what we might get for next year, one thing I
want to do is I want to get a smudge pot that
I can break down and seal and then take camping
with us. Because smudge pots put off enough heat
that we could have just set a smudge pot, boom,
the middle of the campsite, and now all of us
have a little bit warmer of a tent area. I think
next year we'll get some Ys, some Y duct. and
a diesel heater, and I think we're going to start
with the diesel heater. We're going to start
in the spring with some snow on the ground and
see how that works because I want to see how
insulated we are from the ground. Just a few
things I want to test before going into, like,
a new winter camping. Yeah, no, it makes sense.
I will say that, like, what is it, four or five
inches that my swag has for a high -density mattress,
I never got cold from underneath when I was sleeping
out there. And it was cold that night. I mean,
it got down to, like, 19, 18. I barely felt cold
with ours, and then we got, like, four inches
for our air mattresses. Yeah, I mean, even with
my air mattress, the R value is only, like, 4
.5, so it's... it's not for like below freezing
but it's supposed to be good for like 20 30 degrees
and up um but honestly even in that 30 degree
area i haven't been cold on the bottom and and
my specific uh sleeping bag type doesn't actually
have like a bottom liner either so um it actually
combines with the pad It like slips into the
pad. So there is, there's like a small sheet
that goes in between the pad and yourself, but
there's not like a, there's, you're not fully
closed really. So it's very much so a three season
sleeping bag, not a four season. Yeah. I don't
know. I mean, all I'm like in 30 degree weather,
I'm fine. So I don't know. And anything much
colder. with a sweatshirt on i think i'd be still
okay i don't know that's kind of what i want
to try out to see because i personally don't
have any issues with my sleeping bag um in the
cold the only thing that i want a diesel heater
for is for my wife and kid um and it is mildly
um uncomfortable to breathe ice cold air all
night um but and i i'm claustrophobic so i don't
like having the sleeping bag wrapped around me
like that i want a diesel heater just for drying
out the gear just having yeah i mean just having
everything inside and warm would be nice that's
i mean yeah uh like getting out and putting on
your leather boots it's fucking torture every
morning especially when you're getting out and
putting them on on the ground like i miss I miss
my light fighter because getting out and putting
my boots on in the morning is way easier. Oh
my gosh, it's Jasper. Yeah, it's really cute.
Look over there, buddy. Yeah? Oh my gosh. Say
hi, Jasper. Jasper, you're a little loud. We're
going to have to turn you down. Jasper, you're
a little loud. Can you go with Mama? No. Can
you say hi? Can you say, um, hello? Hello. Say
hi, Alex. Hello. Hi, Mark. Fuck. Sick. Oh, fuck.
Sick. Go play with mama. Ready? What was he saying?
Because it sure sounded like fuck. It sounded
like fuck and something else. Don't ask me where
you learned that from, guys. Don't ask me. There
you go. Man, he was stinky. It's a good thing
we passed him off. He's got a diaper to change.
Yeah, I mean, hey, two years old. Wasn't he cute?
He'll say yes to anything, and his hair's been
bothering the shit out of me. It's just like
because it's way too long in the back, and it
gets in his eyes, and it bothers him. So I'm
like, do you want me to cut your hair? And he
goes, yeah. I said, are you sure? At least it
wasn't. What kind of haircut do you want? I want
it to be like Mark's, and Mark was bald at the
time. No. And he's. He still asks for a haircut
like Mark's, and I'm like, I can't copy it, sorry.
He's not bald anymore. It's kind of a bowl cut.
And Sienna's sister's like, why would you do
that? She was so upset. She was like, you have
to take him to a salon for the first time. And
I'm like, dude, he wouldn't even sit still with
a show on while I was buzzing his hair. I was
like, so I only did like, I did about that much
off the back of his head. which for listeners
is about three and a half inches or so off the
back of his head because he had a mullet going
on, and he wouldn't stop moving. So it's a little
uneven, but you know what? It looks a hell of
a lot better than it did. Why would you take
him to a salon? Sorry, I was yawning. Why would
you take him to a salon? Just for his first haircut
to make it, like, presentable. He's a man. I
know. He's a man. Listen, I have a really good
barber. He lives in Croton. His name is Vaughn.
He does an amazing job. Yeah, I'm sure it's not
hard with you to do a good job. I just don't
have hair anymore, so I don't go to him. He's
like, what do you want? Back when I had hair.
Take it all off. He's like, I can do that. Back
when I had hair, I went and saw Vaughn every
week, and it was great. I mean, he's doing really
good. He looks like a young kid now. After I
cut his hair, I was like. Oh, shit. He gets up.
I go, hey, can you, like, throw your diaper away?
Yeah. Okay. Gets up, grabs his diaper, opens
up the child safety locks. He can do that. Yeah.
Throws it in the garbage, walks out, goes like
that. He goes, I did it. And I go, you sure did,
buddy. Dude, it's scary watching him go from
a baby to, like, able to do stuff. Oh, it gets
me teary -eyed sometimes because it's like. It's
quick, dude. This last year of development, I
shit you not, this time last year, he could barely
even walk. And the worst part is we're going
through, like, the same development stuff right
now because Jaxie was so stuck. Yeah. But he's
doing really good, and he's moving quick. Yeah.
He caught on quick. So it's really good. Like,
Jasper could say, and that's one, two, three.
And, like, it's close enough. And, like, he can
count. Like, he can sing. He can say and articulate
most what he needs. So, you know, we're getting
to a good place with him. He's doing well. Yeah.
And obviously he loves the computer. Kids are
great. The other day he set up a video call on
here, actually, for pretty much all night because
I didn't notice he did it. And then I got back
on in the morning. I think I was editing one
of our episodes, and I'm like, motherfucker.
It's like eight hours, 20 -some minutes. I'm
like, shit. I wonder if that's why the server
crashed. Well, that was like over a week ago.
Remember when I mentioned? Yeah, but we haven't
used it since then. Maybe. I don't know. Blame
the kid, man. And I don't even know how he does
it. Oh, yeah, me and Mark used it last week.
Oh, good. Yeah, it made me feel bad for a second.
I don't even know how he does it, though. Like,
the monitor's off. All he can see is the lights
on the keyboard. And he just... He's sent messages
before. He's... Alex thought I was trying to,
like, put in chords or something. Dude, it was
weird. No, it was just him pressing random shit,
so... Dude, 23 -0. I'm just so disappointed that
they're basically pulling out of the U .S. I'm
disappointed in 4x4 Colorado. I've been looking
at them for, you guys know, since I've started,
and that's just been such a huge letdown. Just,
it's like, I don't know, it's like watching your
heroes fall, man. I've talked so well of them.
Thankfully, it happened now. I mean, I started
to get wary when people said they'd been waiting
for about a year to get their tents, and that's
when I started going, ooh, okay, maybe we should
take a step back and look at them. But I think
my next tent is Roof Nest. They have a nice rebrand.
They have pretty good customer service. They
have a large tent, like what I'm looking for,
with a hard top, with proper venting. Seems to
be good construction. And that is a double XL,
sleeps 4+. We're going for comfort. We're not
going for off -road ability. Keep that in mind,
Alex. Comfort. You're camping. If you want comfort,
get an RV. No. Dude, get an RV. You could get
a sick four -wheel drive Econoline. No. You're
shaking your head no, but I know you're thinking
yeah. I mean, I would love to have a van to fuck
around in, like a Mitsubishi or something. I
don't know, man. I'm just not... I just want
this. This is like, this is the dream. And once
this dream's all dead and gone, I'll move on
to something different. But, I mean... 4x4 Econoline.
I really want like an old 80s series. Yeah, 80s
series are sick, dude. I mean... They're like...
they're like the better forerunner like there
was a triple locked 80 series on marketplace
um what a week ago for like 7k and it was running
driving and i'm just like god that'd be just
such a good base to start at and i'm just getting
to the point where like i love my fj don't get
me wrong but like I would just love to start
something off that is classy, admirable. We've
seen the FJs. We've seen the Wranglers, the Gladiators.
We've seen all the common ones, the 3rd Gens,
Tacomas. It'd just be really cool to have uncommon
things again. It's like FJ80s. It'd be really
cool for a single dude to do an FJ40. It'd be
really cool to see someone do that. Or, yeah,
it would. It'd just be cool to get to do some
odd vehicles. That's all. What did I send you?
Was it a Chevy or a Ford? That wagon? It was
like a little lifted. Dude, that was so long
ago, I don't remember. I want to see. It sure
feels like it. I want to see someone build a
GeoTracker or a Suzuki Samurai. It was a Ford.
Dude, that was like weeks ago. 1969 Ford Fairlane
500. It's got a 302 .50 from an 80s Mustang.
Fresh four -speed automatic transmission. uh
new rear leaf spring shackles front end suspension
all rebuilt all new shocks power assist steering
they want 14 .5 for it which is crazy but is
it is a sexy wagon man sex i'd really like to
see someone do a jeep renegade because for a
Michigan trail bomber, it would be fucking mint.
It's small. It can go just about anywhere. Just,
oh, it'd be such a sick little Michigan overland.
What is it? Yeah. The Jeep Renegade. Yeah, let
me look this up here. Oh, I know what it is,
yeah. I don't know why I was thinking. Yeah,
it's, like, it would be such a sick Michigan
bomber. Yeah, I mean, I think they're ugly, but
it would be cool to see. I like them not for
how they look, but for what they are, right?
So they're shit. Don't get me wrong. They're
a shit car. But they're small. They're four -wheel
drive. They make decent power for what they are.
Like, on paper, they're honestly a really good
starting platform for a Michigan wheelie. I would
love to, and this is just since we're talking
about stupid Jeeps. I would love to get the,
it's like an 0506. They made a diesel Jeep Liberty.
And it was only sold in the US for like two years.
It's a 2 .8. Yeah. The CRD. CRD? Yeah. Yep. Yep.
And two, what is it? 160 horse, 295 feet of torque,
22 city, 26 highway. So back in 2017, my stepmom
was looking for a Jeep in Arizona, specifically
a Liberty. And I had found a CRD with 85 ,000
miles on it for just under 10 grand. Mark's falling
asleep. Just under 10 grand. And this thing was
clean as clean could be, dude. And it drove like
it was. It felt heavy like a one -ton, but in
a Liberty package. It was wild. I would also
like to see someone build up an older Isuzu Rodeo.
I thought those were such cool -looking trucks.
You know what else would be a sick, like, just
trail wheeler? Would be a Montero. Montero would
be cool all around her, yeah. Mitsubishi Monteros
were cool. Me and Alex were talking about those.
uh just about being just a really cool all -around
rig a couple yeah like like an 01 02 somewhere
in there montero on like two inches of lift with
like i bet you could stuff 33s or 35s i i doubt
you can go that high but they come with a lot
of those features that you'd expect in an overland
rig like today um and they're just they're sick
dude like and I liked that generation specifically
because I liked the Pajero of that generation.
So it's just a large Pajero then. It'd be cool
to see someone with an older boxy Pathfinder
too. Mark, do you remember that Pajero Evo that
we saw in Detroit? Was it a Pajero? I thought
it was like two Dwarfen. Yeah, that's a Pajero.
Okay, yeah. oh my god dude that thing was fucking
sick yeah 4g 63 four -wheel drive oh my god dude
i want it if there's one vehicle i could have
that i have literally no use to have it'd be
a pajero evo like they're like 50 grand for a
clean one yeah and i would be happy as a b i'd
never drive it yeah i want like a shit box four
-wheel drive bravado that i could just bomb Dude,
do you know the 4Runner was supposed to be a
91 Bravada with 40 ,000 miles on it on 33s? I
do. That's why I'm fucking with you. God, did
I send you pictures of that thing? Yeah. God,
I wanted that truck so bad. It was so clean.
That's what I want. I just want something I don't
have to worry about, and I think that's just
because I want. To stop worrying about vehicles,
you know what I mean? I want to hit it big to
where I can just be like, oh shit, this vehicle
went out. Let me just switch up. Get my shitbox
Ineos Grenadier out. Go whip my diesel BMW engine
around. Dude, the Grenadiers are awesome. Yeah,
I was just someone... I won't mention names,
but someone was just talking about how his friend
had gotten one and it had already blown the engine
out on it. And I have to say and think that had
to have been a one -off because I heard nothing
but good on those BMW diesels. Dude, and really
the Grenadier in general, it's got, what, like
an 80 % reliability rating? And you got to think
with those ratings, there's people that treat
their cars like shit and never change the oil.
And they're the ones that drive the scores down.
Yeah. No, I would trade my FJ for an Ineos if
it was a flat trade and I wasn't going to owe
$55 ,000 on it. I would actually be flat for
it. I'd straight trade the 4Runner for an Ineos
in a heartbeat. Yeah, I'd do that. I'd take that
hit. I'd even throw the trailer in. Yeah. I would
give every vehicle we had here. Take my 93. Take
the shitbox Saab. It's not mine, but I'm sure
Cena's dad wouldn't mind. I wouldn't mind taking
a Mitsubishi Delica. If I said that correctly.
Yeah, yeah. Is the Delica the van? Yes, that's
the van. Yep. Yeah, the Delica vans are sick,
dude. On Story Till Now, there's a guy that joins
it, and he's got a Delica. Right? I could not
believe, yeah. I couldn't believe how far he
got with Wheelie the Crawler. Yeah, that's pretty
crazy. I want a four -wheel drive, supercharged,
five -speed Toyota Previa. Oh, yeah. Yeah, the
same thing. Just Toyota. Yeah, the Previa's fucking
sick. Are there mid -engine, too? That's crazy.
Imagine, like, your shit breaking down, and you
just, like, open it up inside the van and work
on it with the heater on. Dude, I'm pretty sure
the Previa's the mid -engine. Let me double -check
that. I don't know. I don't think it is, but
I could very be wrong. Yeah, the Previa and the
Dodge rival. Oh, that reminds me, Dodge Raider.
Dodge Raider would be a cool... Those are boxy
little fuckers. Yeah, dude, I really can't believe
that the Previa's mid -engine. That's fucking
sick. Oh, sorry. I mean, isn't the most of your
stub -nosed vans mid -engine? No, their engines
are... Yeah, they're in the doghouse, but...
This is mid -engine, like under your feet, behind
the driver's seat. I don't know. I think Scotty
is just doing a crazy cool job of his build.
It's just seeing little wagons like that get
turned into crawlers going across America. That's
sick. Are you talking about the... Oh, dude,
the Eagles, that's been going on. Those things
are monsters. I know, I know. I'm just saying,
I think his build is super cool. I love watching
that. It'd be cool if someone did that with a
Pinto. So it's not the same, right? Like, you're
right, it would be, and you can find crawler
Pintos. But the thing about the Eagle is that
it's already a four -wheel drive car. I just
want to see more wagons. The SX4 or the wagon
of the Eagle are already off -road capable vehicles
before you build them. It's like the Subaru.
No, because the Eagle actually has ground clearance.
They've got like eight or nine inches of ground
clearance, dude. It's ridiculous. Seven or eight.
Four. Well, I mean, you throw some Forester struts
under them, they're about the same. Oh, my God.
How can I rage bait Alex into quitting today?
Oh, my God. I fucking hate Subarus, guys. I love
Subarus. I do. They're a fucking blast. I like
some Subarus because the Brat is really cool
and the STI, well, obviously. Older WRXs are
sick. Bug eyes. I love bug eyes. I love bug eyes.
What's the really weird one? Like the SCX or
whatever? The Z? SSX? No. SVX. I love the Subaru
SVX. I don't know, man. We're at early 2000s
Subarus. Everybody makes a head gasket. Joke
about them, but I didn't have to do anything
with my head gaskets to almost 270 ,000 miles.
So, I really don't have any complaints with my
Subaru other than the fucking subframe running
out before the engine died. Ah, typical Subaru.
But every car. We're at the hour. Oh, good. So
I think it's a good place to call it. Mark is
literally falling asleep on podcast. All right.
Well, let's call it. And then you guys can tell
me exactly where I need to clip. All right. Catch
you guys later. Later.