Welcome to botches off road. I hope the listeners
didn't miss me at the intro too much last week
or for the rap. Yeah. For the first seven minutes
that we were last up where you came in. Yeah.
I was like, I was sitting here at my computer
while John's computer trying to fix an instability
issue. And I was like, you know what? I do want
to record. I really do want to record. So it
was funny because I was me and him talked for
like an hour and a half this morning and Phone
and I was like fuck if we could talk for an hour
and a half this morning on the phone He could
talk with me later like we should have just recorded
and when we talked for an hour and a half this
morning I was like, you know that really it kind
of hurt but it wasn't that bad. I didn't cough
that much. Maybe I'm better so I just said, screw
it. I'm going to record. Don't mind me. I'm putting
numbing, um, mouth pain liquid into one of my
cavities or something. Cause your boy's struggling.
Yeah. Well, last, so the last time I think I
said something about it, it was like my wisdom
teeth area. Now I sense that stopped for like
a week. I was good. Like no pain at all. I was
like, cool. Now I could forget about it again
and keep going. And then then I was eating was
a prosciutto, some other kind of fancy meat that
had peppercorn kernels in it. I would say it's
an apple. It's always a fucking no. It was a
it was a peppercorn kernel in one of those fancy
meats that has peppercorns in it. And I was eating
the bagel. Bagels soft, cream cheese soft, hard
salami, it didn't have any peppercorns soft.
And I bit down full force on one of those peppercorns.
And it hit me right in the middle of one of those
rear teeth. And I could feel my tooth splitting.
I could feel it spread when I bit down. Dude,
horrible pain. And fucking tears grew up in my
eyes. Whole mouth was hurting. Then that went
away. But then my teeth all got sensitive again
all of a sudden. So, yeah. Well, Gavin, it makes
you feel better. You told me you haven't been
to the dentist since your middle school. And
I have this thing where people with bad teeth
drive me nuts because it's disgusting. And your
teeth aren't bad enough that it bothers me. So
good job taking care of your teeth and not even
though you didn't. I mean, I don't go to the
dentist because. I have like a really bad aversion
to mental touching teeth. And when they scrape
my teeth, I like have a panic attack, but I still
brush my teeth like like it's not that I don't
try to take care of them, but like I just I can't
do it like I can't when people clink their forks
on their teeth. If it's something that you do
often, I'll stop hanging out with you. That's
how much I hate it. I I used to work with this
girl. She was really pretty, too, like dropped
a gorgeous and then she would smile and every
single one of her teeth had some kind of pit
in them and it was the biggest like turn off
I was like fuck dude yeah so I mean and you know
I'm 31 now and I haven't really had any huge
issues with my teeth like I had a few years ago
like my wisdom teeth removing or something and
so I had some pain there but like I haven't really
had any real issues with my teeth until just
a couple weeks ago to where they were just hurting.
So I mean, I feel like I take care of my teeth.
I think they're all still there. I don't have
any broken or chipped teeth or anything, except
for the ones way in the back, the wisdom teeth.
Those have broken them off a little bit. But
yeah, so I'm going to the dentist tomorrow. Sienna's
going to the dentist tomorrow. Alex is going
to the dentist tomorrow. We're just all going
to different dentists. And hopefully, they don't
touch my teeth with metal, because I'm going
to tell them to just put me under. I don't want
to be awake for it. And so yeah, that's the fun.
In the wrap, we talked about our fun camping
weekend. What we all learned from that any key
takeaways from you guys from camping weekend
That you're gonna try to make improvements on
in the future. We definitely need a better community
space Okay We're looking at a couple different
ice shanties because that gives us an insulated
pop -up very similar to what we already have
The one that I think we're gonna end up going
with it's like 400 bucks It's 13 by 8 by 13 by
8. So about two footage bigger than what we've
already got. Mm -hmm. Well two foot squared Because
what we have is a 12 by 12, you know, but I think
that will drastically improve our winter camping
and I Winter overlanding would be cool But I
think that my winter camping is gonna reserve
to base camp because it's just so much less set
up. Yeah, I think until I get my Self figured
out a little bit better I'm gonna be reserved
to winter base camps and not a ton of them until
I get it figured out too like So, I mean my key
takeaway is I need a different tent straight
up. I mean The tent was just not good for it.
We're already outgrowing our two person tent
because of the kid now. We have a six person
tent. Takes a while to set up. It's getting old,
starting to get rips in it. Can't withstand super
high wind speeds. You know, anything over 30
and that thing starts to kind of fold. Like I
said, it takes two people to put together and
it's a base camp pretty much only so. My main
considerations for my next tent are gonna be
that it needs to be You know four to six person
tent at the most a six person It has to be pretty
easy simple setup that someone can do By themselves
like me Because you know we have the kid and
you can't do You can't watch the kid and set
up both people set up a tent. That's just not
how toddlers work so So yeah. So I think I have
a tent in mind. I've been looking at the Acacia
and as I was kind of talking to Alex this morning,
I might be, I might stay away from it because
by the time you order the rain fly and the full
rain fly for the Acacia, you're looking at closer
to 700 some dollars, getting close to 800 and
they haven't done anything on any of their socials.
Like they've had no correspondence. I've emailed
them a few times with questions. nothing back
not even like a reply email back for it like
did that will get back to you so That's kind
of unsettling plus no media And I guess to kind
of go back to another conversation me and Alex
had earlier today what's concerning about that
is I was listening to Tyler in our more flight
episode and I'll tell everybody this too. I feel
like a dummy but I've only listened to a few
of the snail trail episodes because I don't really
listen to a lot of them anymore because I don't
work So he didn't know Tyler from snail trails
was Tyler from more flight so So yeah, I'm sorry
Tyler. Sorry snail trail guys. I I like I have
listened to episodes but like Tyler does a good
job in the snail trail episodes of not like being
overly over the - what how would you say that
like pushy. Over the talkative about the fact
that he is you know that he owns like more flight
and that he does all that - I mean they do talk
about it a lot yes like it's not like that like
in a - and it's not not by my fucking product
or yeah it's long. He's like oh I'm going to
sponsor this - this event or you know we're fully
sponsored this so I know all about it or. I mean,
yeah, I listen these products like he's mentioned
like future products in some degree coming up.
But other than that, he doesn't really push it
too much. Yeah. Like I've listened like I had
enough time to listen to like two more snail
mail ones. I think that's what they call them,
right? Snail mail. Yeah. Any of them I was in.
I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Actually
I thought for a second because they said Alex
and said oh and then they go to other Alex. Yeah
they go other Alex and I'm like oh. But yeah
so they they were talking about that and then
they started getting into talking about businesses
but anyway back to circle back to what I was
originally saying is that. He mentioned that
there are some companies that are really in it
for the long run they're in it to. make a startup,
make a product, and then stick in it for a couple
of years, make some good money off of it, and
move on. Or they just don't think of the long
term, and they can't sustain it or whatever.
And I think Acacia is one of those brands. I'm
not confident with their customer service, that
they'll have product support in the future. And
I don't want to invest that kind of money into
something that doesn't have a future. And unless
they can prove me wrong in the next you know,
month or two, I probably won't invest into something
like that. When you invest into a tent and you
put this kind of money into a tent, you expect
to have some kind of product support and customer
service. And while I have been worried with Gazelle's
quality control issues, I don't think it's enough
to warrant not getting them. And the issues I
have had with them. They just released the Gazelle
T5 back country. And that has been everything
that I have wanted in a quick setup tent. It's
a hub style tent like their last one. They have
a full rectangular door. They have, you know,
Velcro windows that have a clear section. So
they like they're supposed it's a four season
tent. It's a five -person tent, so it's not quite
like the 6 '8". It's kind of like in the middle.
Diesel heater pour seems really, really nice,
rugged. it really makes me laugh that you say
uh five like four five is a preferred size because
if I'm not if it's not a two person I want a
six or an eight yeah so like I I like it that
is is a five person tent because four to six
is like six is my max four to five I'm assuming
five is my sweet spot right so gives me a little
extra space to put like the battery for the diesel
heater our gear for the kid to walk around and
run around in so while not being frigid cold
in the winter or cold months. So it has embodied
everything that I've wanted from a tent other
than size and weight. It's still the typical
gazelle tent style. So it's got that long bag.
The only other thing that I would love to see
from them is like a full rain fly. But with that
being said, if their tents are that good and
that waterproof, and then that's not a concern.
So and I've heard they're pretty waterproof.
Right. But I've heard they're pretty waterproof.
So I've heard people have gone through plenty
of rainstorms in them and they can sustain pretty
high winds and have no issues. I know Scott was
with us on that first Labor Day when we were
getting 40 to 60 mile an hour winds and he was
not having any issues in his gazelle. So. That
is pretty cool. I have another. Another thing
I want to upgrade is. Maybe not an upgrade, I
don't know. The the poo situation wasn't the
best this weekend. But I didn't want to set up
my poo castle, so maybe like a half poo castle
that my head sticks out of would be OK. I think
that's that's another reason why I want a tent
that I could stand up in. So like the two person
dagger great solo or two person tent for the
our over landing needs so that's not like that's
gonna get phased out it's definitely has a purpose
but being able to have that five six person tent
we can throw a toilet in there with the diesel
heater on no and deal with the stank or whatever
for you know no different than having a bathroom
in your house right so. Yeah, no, it's no different.
Yeah, I mean there's snow outside, you know bag
it there's some spray in there maybe vent your
vent here your Your tent for a minute or two.
You'll be fine. So I would know what we were
doing hmm We were sitting we set up the we dug
a spot for the toilet set the toilet there And
then we took my army tarp and just wrapped it
around our waist before we sat down. He said,
whoever needs to use the bathroom first gets
to set up the tent. Well, it'll be him. He didn't
want to set up the tent at all. I didn't have
time. I had to go. I even took an Imodium. An
Imodium worked great the first day when we were
stuck in everything. The second day after the
red beans and rice and sausage went through the
system. Yep. And I was getting like IBS issues.
So I. I. Walking talkers went through meal. Saturday
night This camping trip was interesting because
usually I do have like really bad IBS issues.
I Didn't this time the walking tacos, you know
went through me, but other than that even my
poops are even solid I don't get solid poops.
Yeah, I don't either and I don't eat like a super
unhealthy diet either Like I don't use a lot
of fats. It's usually solid like fully cooked
meals like So even when we're camping, it's not
really that bad a food. And I technically, I
think I eat better camping, really, because I
try to have better food while we camp. So the
poop situation, that would be great in a bigger
tent. Otherwise, we'd have to run a diesel heater
tube to one of the side awning tent on the truck
would have been great this weekend had I. had
I not broken it during poker runs. So because
I did rip that off and it's still strapped there.
It's been too cold for me to want to fuck with
it. It's like it hasn't moved yet. So I'm like,
whatever. I haven't taking my tent off the roof.
I haven't done anything. It's all still in the
truck. Oh, you know what I would like to address,
too. You know that worrying sound I was talking
about. After driving around for a while. It seems
to quiet down. I don't know why. I don't know
if it's because the oil warmed up. I don't. I
haven't driven the truck long enough since I
changed it. I don't think it's a problem. I think
you're good. Let's hope. But yeah, no, I didn't
have any issues this weekend. um I I did accidentally
like I was I was rocking it from drive to reverse
a few times and I might have slammed it into
drive before I got slow enough to in reverse
so it kind of like lurched me so that kind of
fucked me up a little but um you know um I think
that's really my only improvement I think with
a better tent to insulate for that Heat that
I was actually getting from the diesel heater.
I think we'd be in better situation in the future
There is a chance that I upgrade bags, but I
think honestly I'm gonna keep the bags and just
get some quilts and stuff because some wool some
down I want to get some good down quilts Some
really really good pack down down quilts that
we could throw over us That one I got for Christmas
is fucking solid is it down is probably yeah,
it's a Packable like hiking down quill. Yeah
Yeah, I think it's solid that is the way I know
coming into this year. I got to get the kid a
sleeping bag or something We have an old Coleman
bag that I might just let him use And then the
the army green uh wool blankets you can get those
for like 20 bucks yeah i think i'm gonna get
a couple of those uh the secret safe of the day
which i don't think i match uh mentioned in the
wrap and i don't know if mark heard but um you
know those uh one -sided blankets they're like
they're like blanket on one side the other side's
like plastic so you can lay it in the grass or
on the ground it like folds up like a truck like
the truck seat cover thing you can get from uh
auto zone Yeah, you know, the one that rolls
up in like a rectangle. I think you have one,
too. I got mine. I think I have the same one.
Yeah, I got mine from tractor supply. It was
given to me. But so I had that to put out in
front of my tent so I could get in and out of
it because I have to crawl in the snow to get
out of my two person dagger, which that sucked,
too, by the way. But during the middle of the
night with the wind coming in, I had these toggles
on the side of my screen. I open up my zipper,
cut holes in that. one sided blanket and hung
them through the toggles and it completely blocked
the right side of my tent off. Yeah. So it wasn't,
you know, mesh only there. And that helps the
heat retain in. And then I pulled in my rain
fly on the left side, unhooked it, pulled the
whole rain fly under the tent and smushed it
into the snow to kind of anchor it down to keep
the heat in over there, too. So the wind wasn't
pushing in and like getting rid of all my heat
and that helped. So yeah, I mean that that little
blanket kind of saved the day. I did have a blanket
underneath my pad and that was good. It was really
good for moving around in the tent because it
didn't like I wasn't sitting right on the snow
or on the tarp of the bottom of the tent. So.
Other than that, though, yeah, I think that's
just my main thing is a tent and. because the
worst thing is that gazelles that new backcountry
tents a thousand fucking dollars it's it's expensive
and i'm sure they're good for it like i said
their quality is decent and and that does that's
like a winter tent and a summer tent so it's
two tents for one kind of thing is kind of how
i'm trying to justify it in my mind you get both
I'd love to get it and then test it out with
you guys too and be like, Hey, what do you guys
think? We do like a too bad. Too bad. You need
a bigger tent because there's a light fighter
to with with kit for like 350 on marketplace
right now. But that's like just slightly bigger
than your dagger. Yeah, I literally it's literally
the size of my swag. They're like within a couple
inches of each other. Yeah. I mean, if I was
solo, I'd just probably just use a swag or Well,
I mean, honestly, if I was solo, I'd just truck
camp. So truck camping would be the the best
way to do that. Throw your diesel heater in through
the fucking window. Oh, my God. You'd be so warm
all night. Dude, your truck don't even do that.
Build your diesel heater into the truck so you
don't even have to. Well, I mean, you just turn
it on. Yeah. I mean, if I had like Mark's truck
and I had like a bed and everything. Hell, yeah.
Do I like one of those? Five foot bed. Oh, I
was going to say, you can't lay down in your
truck if you fold everything flat either, can
you? No, not at all. It's not like a full cab.
Mine's a full cab, but no, you can't even do
that. There was a guy that had a Tacoma where
he got in an accident with it. He deleted his
passenger seat and made an old platform for him
to sleep in. He was like camping out of it. I'm
not sure. Short guys got it easy if they can
go fucking passenger to drivers and just sleep
in the back seat. Yeah, you ever see those, like,
the car beds? Yes. Yeah, they have, like, the
inflatable beds that you put on the seat. Oh,
yeah, yeah, yeah. And then inflate it, and you
could sleep in the back seat. those people got
it easy man being that short what the fuck that
being said though the passenger seat at least
not so much the drivers but once it's reclined
and so far back it actually quite comfy to sleep
yeah fuck I've done that in the Toyota too I'd
say Toyota's their seats reclined pretty far
back I think just about as far as you can let
it go without touching the other seat behind
you so that is nice I've spent a night or two
in my in my seat, so. But yeah, I don't know.
Mark, you think you're going to do any tent changes
this next season? I'm happy with the light fighter.
It's done everything I got. It's capable for
all seasons right now. I just have to take the
one layer off when it comes to summertime, because
I'm going to not want the extra layer. Don't
If anything I like to get a whoopie blanket just
for because I don't sleep with my sleeping bag
fully zip because I It gets up to a certain point
that I just don't like how the comfort level
with being zipped Yeah, just like you don't like
being confined like you want to spread. Yeah
Yeah. Yeah, so I usually leave it was up to open
That was kind of the - It hasn't bothered me
until stuff for the other weekend when we first
did our test camp for wintering. Yeah. It's kind
of the downside to sleeping bags is if you like
to sprawl, they don't really allow for that.
Especially the mullet bags. Yeah. So that was
one of the considerations I got. I got a wide,
rectangular -shaped sleeping bag. And it was
meant for some people with wider shoulders, a
little bit bigger guys. And it's nice because
I can kind of sprawl a little bit in it, but
I can move around. It still has a hood that if
you wanted to kind of mummy yourself, you could.
But the only downside is that when you want the
toe box to be really small to help keep that
heat in, you kind of have to like fold it into
a mummy style. But which is kind of what I did
this weekend or this last weekend. So but Honestly,
the bags done great for me. It's a zero degree
and I I think that in zero degrees I would have
survived but I would obviously that's not a comfort
rating. So Yeah, it was like negative two, I
mean it was below yeah Yeah We're in the negative.
We got down to like negative 17. Yeah, I don't
know where I don't know where I was exactly.
I know in the tent I was at like 45 and then
I was at 60 at the top because I had my my as
I said in the wrap, my monoxide meter has a thermometer
on it and it said I was running around 5560 at
the top of the tent. So I was probably at a good
like 45 -ish, 50 in the bottom part. Much cooler
down. You could feel the difference. I definitely
feel the difference from moving my hand from
an inch or two from the bottom of the tent from,
you know, a foot or so up to the top of the tent.
Easy difference. Yeah. I... Think I've got my
my winter sleeping setup is pretty solid I used
to have issues with the swags I had to roll out
into the snow But then I realized I was being
dumb and I can just open the roof and go out
the roof That made the swag way more usable and
then Because I can pretty much completely close
the swag up uh even like when we camped last
weekend in the yard uh that night that mark bitched
out when it was like negative 27 or whatever
um by the way valid valid bitch out by the way
that's valid yeah i i woke up the that morning
when it was still like negative 25 and i was
sweating my ass off so i took the you know took
the quill off my head and went oh yeah fuck that
and just put it back because it was so cold But
I mean when it comes to like actual Surviving
and being comfortable and cold army sleeping
bag with a couple army Well, usually I have a
army wool blanket over me and then my down quilt
I'm not I'm not cold. That is a very warm sleeping
setup and then you know, the army or the Swag's
built -in mattress is really freaking solid uh
mark did you see that when we took the swag up
there's only a small amount of snow melted under
it i was really impressed with the lack of like
thermal transfer that happened there i think
the only area that got any form of melt i know
we put salt on it but even before that it was
the canopy yeah where we were running the propane
heater Yeah, I was pretty happy with my tent
having no snow on it. Oh, yeah Yeah, no, I honestly
I think if my core temp was higher like if I
was just at a normal core temp like right now
I probably would have been able to sleep through
most of the night with no issue, but I was fighting
a losing battle most of that night and Yeah,
the tell you what though just like last time
camp meals They just, they hit different when
you're cold and you've been fucking around all
day. Like that red beans and rice that I made
was orgasmic. It was better than sex when I was
eating it. Like so good. So good. I was telling
Mark in the rap, I don't know if you were on
yet, but I was, I was like, I was moaning while
I was eating it at the fire. Like my feet, my
boots were in the fire. because I couldn't feel
my toes and I was just going, oh, oh, every bite
was just, oh, fuck. And Mitch is just looking
at Friday night. Friday night when we made mashed
potatoes, corn and steak, I like we don't have
a way to cover our pan when we're cooking steak.
And it makes it kind of hard to cook the steak
all the way through. Right. And I was in the
cold. So it's like neck negative temps above
it. hot pan underneath it. It just it didn't
cook even. Yeah. And I cut into that first piece
and it was like completely raw in the middle
and it was still the best thing I'd ever. Oh,
yeah. Dude, the piece I picked was cooked just
right. It was perfect. So remember how we were
having issues with my stove on New Year's? I
think it was because I had some kind of water
in the system from the ice and stuff being in
because when I got you because Mitch had the
same set up. And I asked him if he had any issues.
He's like, no, I've never had issues with it.
I'm like, OK, maybe you just keep your cap on
because you're not an idiot like I am. And I
went to do the same thing, hooked my stove up,
no issues. So I don't know. I was really happy
because it got really hot, really fast. And I
was cooking that rice. It was boiling. If you
think about it, people put their propane in a
jug of ice to get it to cook hotter. I mean.
our propane tanks sit outside all winter. So
like there's it can't be too bad, like obviously.
But I was just like it was just weird that one
day. Yeah, it was just being weird. And I think
it was because and for anyone who might not know,
which probably is most of you for New Year's,
I had forgotten to put the cap on my propane
tank and it sits on my spare wheel. So the whole
inside of my propane tank nozzle was just iced
over. So we had to get like a gun. and warm that
up before I even hit it. So I think I had some
water in there. And when I open it up, I think
it was just affecting the propane mix. So, you
know, but now it was great. Really, really happy
with the cooking set up this weekend. Could you
imagine if there'd been a propane leak that time
we put the heat gun to it? I would have been
interesting. Yeah, that might not have been the
smartest thing we've ever done. I mean, I can't
lie. I was thinking about putting a torch to
it, but I thought against it. I feel like there
was a legal pros over, though. Yeah. You know,
I just for any listeners like I think about these
things, it doesn't mean that I do them. I have
a lot of intrusive thoughts, a lot. I thought
about leaving my truck the other day, just sitting
out in the middle of the snow and just walking
away and never coming back. Just saying fuck
over landing, fuck camping. Like I was getting
frustrated. Not mean that doesn't mean I'll do
it. I thought about sleeping there that night,
too. Didn't mean I'd do it. I I definitely shot
a leaking propane tank the other day, like one
of the little one pounders, because it wouldn't
stop leaking. And I'm like, how do I dispose
of it? So I just threw it out in the yard and
shot it. It was already leaking. No, they're
pretty good. I wish it had. By the way, what
was up with your old buddy eater priority? Alex,
why was it broke? Oh. Yeah, I don't know. The
igniter wouldn't work. And I'm like, I'll just
take it apart and fix the igniter. No, no, it
was really it was really broke. Yeah. Yeah. It's
funny because Mark told me about that on the
wrap and I'm like, I had two of them that he
could have took. I had a propane tank mounted
heater with the double cans. And I have the same
buddy heater we took for cold camp last year,
cold camp, botches camp. year or two ago, wherever
we did that last. That propane heater I bought
though is it's the MVP of the trip. Oh yeah.
That was a really nice one. Definitely works
way better if actual bigger propane tank than
the little ones. Yeah, probably the the more
pressure that you had in it. Mm hmm. Yeah, it's
that thing's really fucking solid. It's a Ozark
trail 360 and it must be new because there's
like no reviews of it anywhere on yeah, you know
and I like my buddy heater it actually kept my
tent pretty warm when we were out there, but
When that CEO monitor turned on that was enough
for me That was that was scary. I fucking you
wake up with a headache and Your CEO monitors
going off saying you're in the yellow and I'm
like, yep. Because it's just a losing battle
like, OK, then that means I have to vent better.
OK, well, then you're just losing more hot air
like diesel heaters. The only way to go. I had
that thing completely closed up. CEO meter was
at the top where all the heat was. I had zero
parts per million. Nothing the whole night. I.
I mean if you're using a propane heater in like
uh like a canopy or something something that's
pretty well ventilated to begin with uh it's
pretty solid but I would never use a diesel heater
in like in like a closed vein here like that's
just asking for issues that's yeah yeah yeah
i was gonna say i'm like that's what i did all
last weekend and i was fine like so yeah no but
you you're mostly mesh vegan it was very windy
for you too well after i used up all the the
mat and stuff on there i i wasn't getting any
wind travel through it thankfully but i still
had a lot of thermal wash through the floor yeah
Yeah, the buddies using he loves to come in now
like you just know I Totally I totally would
have said hi bring it back. No Sienna already
locked the door closed it. He needs to be a common
occurrence on our He hasn't missed a week so
far in the last few weeks But he's we're potty
training right now so He's he's got the old spider
-man chonies on and It is not going well. He's
still young but like my lord Like hey, you need
to go potty. Let me feel you gotta feel and it's
like, oh you already pissed yourself Hey, why
don't you tell us you had to go potty? He goes
I have to go potty. I'm like, it's too late now
Dude, it's too late Thankfully, he hasn't pooped
yet in those but we've been just trying to introduce
him to them And we went through like four of
them in three hours, his underwear. And at that
point, he was just getting tired of us changing
him all the time. So then he started to think
it was more of a punishment. So we were like,
all right, let's take a break from these for
a bit. But he's doing good. He's going to be
such a cool camper. I'm super excited to do like
solo trips with him next year, because I think
I think Sienna will probably hold. hang back
on some of them, whether it's just from work
or whatever. And me and him are going to try
and still go out. I think now, I think now, especially
because I'm watching him throughout the day,
we bonded a lot better. So he's not always up
mom's butt all the time. He wants to be with
me, too, which is great. So I think that it's
going to be a lot better year for that. And I'm
excited to do some solos with them, just let
them run around for the day. Sit is he could
just run around his underwear. I don't even care
Jax has been doing this new thing. That's really
funny Every morning he wakes up and he goes I'm
on a case side today Or I'm on uncle Alex's side
today rude that he spends the whole day hanging
out with you know, whoever he Decided he wanted
Jasper gets up in the middle of the night and
or like so like we live with the dad again and
he'll go to bed at like nine nine thirty because
he gets up at like three thirty four to go to
work and just to be clear when he says the dad
he means Sienna's dad not saying Jasper has a
different dad uh Sienna's dad the father -in
-law we live with him so when Leo the father
-in -law goes to bed at nine nine thirty Jasper
comes up to me gives me a hug goes night night
like where are you going i'm gonna go sleep with
grandpa Like you ain't gonna go sleep with him
like you're gonna go and try to like watch a
TV show or something and so he like almost every
night now he does it and then and eventually
grandpa's like all right, you're done and He'll
come into our room and then like he'll get pissed
off at us for hogging the bed or something And
he'll get off and go to grandpa's room. So in
the middle of the night We just hear the door
slam and we look and it's like it's either him
coming in or him leaving because he can open
and close doors and everything now. So he saw
Grandpa pull in today and he opened the front
door and is like in his underwear and is like
grandpa, grandpa, grandpa. Like, son of a bitch,
close the door like letting all the fucking hot
air out. But he's doing good, man. He's growing.
Like last year, he could open the zippers in
the tent. So I'm excited for him to come out
camping with us. It's going to be fun, man. Yeah,
he's he's really turning into quite the little
kid. Yeah, and we have a fireplace in our living
room. So I feel like this next year fires are
not gonna Be an issue with him really like Like
you normally you have to really watch kids run
the fire and we've we've had him out since he
was six months old around fires and stuff So
he was never really as dangerous as some of the
other kids that are like in the fire almost and
he's never like fallen into it. He's he's stumbled
a few times around it and everybody freaked out.
And then he recovered and walked away from it.
And everyone's like, oh, OK. But like he's never
really had any like real close calls with it.
So, yeah, I think that's just because we've had
him around it so much that he's not like curious
by it. Like he wants to throw sticks in it like
that's every boy does. Right. Like we all wanted
to throw sticks in. But he. But he's not like
enamored by it. Like he doesn't want to go touch
it or anything. So I think he's going to be really
good for camp this year. I'm really looking forward
to just watching him run around and be a kid
and get out of the house. Like winter, like being
in the rural area is super good. Like, love it.
The bad part is, is like there's like nothing
for him to really do. Like he'll go out. Yeah.
He'll go outside for three minutes before he
wants to come back inside because it's too cold.
And it's like there are no toddler play parks
anywhere nearby. Inside ones, there's like the
trampoline place is too young for that. But like
it's like an hour and 30 some minutes to get
to like a toddler play place. And it's just not
worth the drive for a few hours, you know. And
then there's no other kids his age that it's
like. I can't do like play dates or something.
There's like no one else his age that will want
to like play for a few hours and stuff. So it's
kind of kind of sucks there. He's got no one
to really play with. He's getting that cabin
fever. And when kids can't get all their energy
out and they're stuck at home all day, they tend
to start getting into shit. So that's where you
start having issues. I've got, I've got the seasonal
depression pretty bad this year. Like I get it.
I get it. I get it. I mean, me too. I've been
stuck inside for months. I'm like, I've been
watching them this winter and it's been fun.
Not like, I'm not going to lie. Like it's been
fun, not working, but also like horribly stressful,
not working like, you know, being that being
the provider for as long as I've been able to
work. You know, being my own provider, being
Sienna's provider since I've been with Sienna,
and then just kind of like handing her the reins
and being like, do we have money for this? Like,
I feel like a bitch, but it's like, I don't know.
It's, it's weird. It's freeing in a way, because
like, I don't have to stress about like getting
up for work or work stuff like I was, but it
just comes with a whole different set of like
worries. Hey, you know because I'm not working
are we gonna be able to do this blah blah blah
We've been doing fine actually so far. We're
catching up on stuff Like we had planned So everything's
working good. It's it was it was still a good
idea and we needed to do it but So by the spring
we'll be we'll be pretty well set Everything
will probably be paid off. I mean other than
like them like the truck but Everything else
is we're pretty well off So that's good. That's
good. That's what I like to hear. Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, Alex and Mark know, like I was hitting
some pretty hard times there at the at the like
fall going into winter. We were having some really
tough times. Thought I was going to lose the
truck there for a little bit. Thought we were
going to lose the car to like trying to sell
everything I got and can't sell anything fast
enough. And so dropping, you know, it was thirteen
hundred dollars a month for child care. And Chopping
a few other things really helped out quite a
bit. So yeah, we're back on track now. Childcare
is just too expensive, man. It's just not a super
sustainable thing to do. Like it's good for Jasper.
Like it's good for him to get out with other
kids and stuff. And it gives them something to
do all day, but it's just too expensive, man.
$1 ,300 a month. That's like, that's a mortgage
payment, man. That's why we can't afford a mortgage
is because we have to do that. Even with both
of us working. It's expensive. Well, soon he'll
be in school. I mean, he's what too. So three
-year -old preschool starts next year. Yeah,
that's, uh, I'm hoping that we can get them by
maybe just the summer and get them by. Maybe
I could do part -time and have some people watch
them and stuff. We'll see how that we'll see
what plays out. I being honest, I don't even
know what the plan is. Our plan is just to pay
stuff off for now. And I mean, if you play, if
things get done right, three year old daycare
killing could end up being one of his teachers
assistants. Yeah. I mean, three year old preschool,
I mean. Yeah. If once I get them into preschool,
it'd be amazing. Like once I don't have to pay
for it, that's going to be our savior, because
then I can pick up on the job again. I'm hoping,
you know, someday we could start getting a little
bit of money from the, our extracurricular activities
we do as a group or as a, as my hobby. And it'll
help supplement a little bit, but I don't by
any means think that it'll be a full -time job
till I'm 40. That's my plan. 40 years old. This
will be a full -time job. I was telling my dad
that I just want the podcast to start covering
my bills so I could quit my job. And then he's
like, well if you do some work on our other job
because we you know We own a hosting company
and I'm like, yeah But so far all I've done is
answer some calls and we're still making money.
So what do I need to do? Yeah, keep going man.
You need more. You need another worker throw
me in but I uh Yeah, no, I mean I think I think
by 40 We'll have a solid enough base I hate to
say like a 10 year plan for us, but like, but
like if we keep going with this for a few years
and we keep doing what we do, I think by 40,
we'd be solid enough to not retire or anything,
but have supplemented income or at least good
enough benefits from what we've done in the long
as long as we've been in it to offset things
like traveling or products that we get stuff
like that so that would be the goal man that's
kind of like I would love to travel and and you
know invest into traveling and eventually get
paid back for it or something but that's a I
recognize and for me it's like it's a lazy thing
too like I got to get over that I should have
been filming most of this last weekend and I
didn't That's all me I Did some filming and I
got some I made some reels that are doing good
So yeah, I know I actually mine are doing really
good for not having anybody tagged in them I'm
like over a thousand views on both of those reels
that I made the one where I was just showing
camp and the other one Oddly enough the one where
I have just a screenshot of my YouTube video
It got over a thousand views in like a day so
the The one that I tagged 23 zero in before they
accepted it, I was up to like 4000 views and
then they accepted it and it just skyrocketed.
Yes, it's 23 zero. And then the other warehouse
place, I forget that works with 23 zero. They'll
they'll take it to and put it on theirs. And
that went out to like I have almost 300 views
on my winter camping shakedown video. which was
really just a couple... a couple clips of us
bebopping some pictures and then me talking about
it after. I have 300 views on it in two days,
so... which is better than anything else I've
had. The real of my bumper breaking is still
gaining views. I'm up to 38 ,040. Yep. I'm at
like 60 ,000 with the... with the one that I
made. I forget which one it is. And that's without
posting it on Facebook. If I post it on Facebook,
it fucking skyrocket because the Facebook algorithm
just feeds crap to people. Yeah, where's notifications?
Oh, yeah, I always like looking at the the metrics
behind this stuff. So interesting. It's not like.
It's not like that we do well, but it's just
it's cool to see the metrics on it. That one,
you've got 60 ,000. I bet the majority are Facebook,
aren't they? Because I know you post all years
on Facebook. They just cross post. So it's not
like I do it like, well, like now unwillingly,
but like it just cross post. So I turn my cross
post off. I don't want my friends and family
to know what I'm doing. I do. I, it's funny cause
I talk to them. I'll talk to my friends and family
and stuff and they'll be like, Oh yeah, I saw
that you went and did this or I saw you and did
that. And that was really cool. It was really,
it's been really cool watching you do this stuff.
Like we don't talk much, but I'm always watching
it and I really enjoy it. It's like, that's cool.
Cause I'm not great at contacting family and
stuff, but it's good that they're keeping up.
I suppose. Um, yeah. Where's. I think it's interesting
to just see like what platform stuff does well
on. Excuse me. Yeah. Well, someone tapped one
of my external links lately. Interesting. I don't
know which one that was. I wish they told me
it's interesting. But yeah. Trying to see on
that one that you were talking about. Oh, that's
the last 30 days. That's 90 days. Let's see.
Yeah. So the bison gear one, that's up to 10.
point seven thousand views being tagged through
bison gear non -followers mostly and The other
bison gear ones five thousand the The one with
your third gen in it That one's at like two thousand
views the I have a couple of them. I mean the
views are the views don't count as much as the
likes but I think I get more from the more views,
the better. Um the more followers I think that
I retained from that kind of thing. Yeah. So,
yeah, that's pretty cool. It's cool. Alright,
I think we should get off of here. Yeah, I think
Mark's falling asleep. I am falling asleep here.
Yeah, it's been a long, long drive. I still,
I got baby birds today, so I still got to work
for like an hour or so. Yeah, I drove all the
way down to Holland and all the way up to Hispira
to work today and then over home. So I've been
all over the place today. Yeah. Well, on that
note, thanks for listening, guys, and we will
see you on the next one. Later.