S&YE223 - Cladasaurus Trex

Hey everyone, this is Brandon.

You could find me on Instagram at KladysaurusTracks.

You're listening to episode 223 of the Subian New Podcast.

Whatever time and whatever day you happen to be listening to this podcast and this episode,

thank you so much for stopping by and giving it a listen.

If you are here to listen to Brandon's episode, go check out the other 222 episodes that there

are. There's plenty to go around. And of course, I want to thank Brandon for taking the time to

stop by and chat with me and talk about his Subaru and his journey. We'll get into that here in

just a little bit, but I also want to give a shout out to my buddy Ben. He is the host of the Dirt

Subis podcast. He's been putting together some really good episodes over there. So be sure to

go check that out and give his podcast a listen as well. Because of this podcast and because of

his podcast, we've actually become really good friends. And he is going to try to make it out

to Overland Expo PNW. I am planning to be there. So it's going to be really great to see him again

and hang out more this time than we did last time because it was a very brief encounter.

But I feel like having each of us having a podcast has just brought us closer together.

And I really like that. But before we get into anything else, we're going to hear from one of

our sponsors. The Subi and you podcast is brought to you by eccentric designs. For those of you

who don't know, eccentric designs is a small community driven business that offers custom

fit vinyl overlays for most Subaru models. This includes various designs for the rear reflectors,

tail lights, and side tail lights. I also offer fun, detailed designs like the popular

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There's always more projects in the works. So be sure to follow at eccentric.designs on Instagram.

So right there at the end, she said there's always more projects in the works and there are.

She has a lot of products out. And so be sure to go check out her website, check her out on

Instagram and see what she's posting because she has more than just decals. She's been doing some

other things and working on some other projects. So be sure to give her a follow and click the

notification so you can see when she is releasing other either other decals or as new models come

out or other products. So thank you so much eccentric designs for sponsoring the Subi and

you podcast. I am very excited to announce that melee design firm is now a sponsor of the Subi

and you podcast. If you've seen inside my engine bay, I have a front strut tower brace. I also

have engine bay caps, which are really great at dressing up your engine bay. I also have a melee

pitch stop and the group 35 battery box with the Subi and you podcast logo etched on the front.

Thank you so much, Mitch. And I have the appropriate sized full throttle battery that goes into the

battery box. So I'm all set up with melee products. Not only does he have really great quality

products, but he is also such a great guy. And he works really hard in this Subaru space to bring

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get 10% off your purchase. So go check it out melee design firm.com. Get some engine bay caps for

your engine. That is like one of the best ways to dress it up and make it look great. I'm still

seeing a lot of people posting photos and videos of going out in the snow. But here in Houston,

it's been really warm lately. It's been in like the low to low 70s to low 80s, which is warm,

you know, we're not getting any snow with we're not getting any snow with that kind of weather.

But I mean, it's been nice because it hasn't been too hot. But it's just like, I don't know,

usually it seems like it might be a little bit cooler this time of year. But we just don't really

get a winter here. Not much at all. Definitely very rarely see snow. Again, I know snow can be

problematic and it can be get slushy and messy and gross after a while. But it looks so beautiful.

So if you were still getting snow, I know again, it can be a pain, but enjoy it, embrace it and

for all of its beauty and then all of its nastiness too. And now before we get into this episode

with Brandon, be sure to go check out Subaru gear.com. They have so many great products

that are branded Subaru, also Subaru Motorsports USA. They have the Bucky Lasset collection.

They have several other collections. They have stuff just they have apparel. They have stuff for

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which is absolutely wonderful. Thank you so much Subaru Gear for sponsoring the

SUBI and you podcast and bringing this offer to our listeners. And now we will go ahead and get

into this episode with Brandon to hear all about his Subaru Cross Trick Wilderness,

which is really exciting. So here we go.

What's up, Brandon? How you doing? I'm doing good. It's good to have you on here again.

Yeah, it's been a week and a half or something. Yeah. Had you on here and Rob to talk about

the event that y'all were doing with Off-Road Rouge, we'll get into that later on,

but it was cool because I got to actually see you through Zoom for the first time and

put a face to the account since we were just talking about that offline. How you go to events

and meet somebody and it's like, I don't know who you are, but what car do you drive? What's your

account? I remember when we first talked, I think it was like a year ago, and I'm going to shout

out Jim, little Ruby SUBI. And I know when you asked him if I was some crazy guy or something,

he said no. Yeah, and that was enough to validate that I wasn't some sort of psychopath. So

shout out, Jim. Yeah, he also said that my account was the first one you started following.

It was. That's cool. It was the first one. So did you find out about the podcast through him?

No, I didn't meet him. Before then, I actually, I made this account as like a kind of a gag,

and then all the recommended stuff came up and yours was the first one. And I do remember that

you just posted like, Hey, follow this account. And then I started getting like a lot of followers.

So thank you. Yeah, I know. I try to do that whenever I see somebody new in the community to

be like, because it's always exciting to see somebody new come into the community. Oh,

I can't show it here, but you're the top one. It's the top one. Awesome. That's cool. But yeah,

like whenever, if I see somebody new coming into the community, you know, like, because like there's

times when I will chat with somebody that has a new account, like they'll either message me or I'll

see they're following me and it'll say new and they'll have like two followers, but they're

following like a hundred people or something. And I'm like, come on, let's let's help this person

out and show them what we're all about. A lot of people commented on my first post. I actually

ended up meeting in person at some point in the past like two years, which is pretty cool. Yeah.

Yeah. So what's really cool about this is you're the first person I've ever had on the podcast

that has a cross-track wilderness. No way. That's that's actually pretty crazy considering it's

been out for a little bit. Yeah. I'm pretty sure. I don't think that I've had anybody else on that

has a cross-track wilderness. I've had people on that have an outback wilderness and maybe a

forester, but if I'm wrong, I'll, you know, I'll look back through my guest episodes, but I think

you're the first one. Oh, that's awesome. I'm honored at this point. Yeah. Very cool. Well,

I guess the other important question is whether you prefer waffles or pancakes.

So I'm going to say neither is that illegal. I'm a french toast guy. Yeah. You're probably like

the third or fourth french toast person, which I mean, french toast is good. It's got to be what?

You know, like the thicker cut french toast can't be like regular bread. Like Texas toast?

Yes. Yes. Absolutely. But if I have to answer your question, I would say, I'd say pancakes.

Yeah. The pancakes consistency is more in line with french toast than waffles.

It is. Chocolate chip pancakes or any sort of fruit mixture is always good. Yeah. So.

Yeah. I like pancakes. Me and my son have been eating pancakes pretty much every weekend lately

because it's easy and I don't know. I just like them. They're good. I actually had them today.

So. There you go. There you go. It worked out well. Yeah. It worked out. So yeah,

I know this is your first Subaru based on when we chatted the last time, but well,

through the Zoom and stuff. But where did your interest in Subaru come from in the first place?

Like, did you have family members that had Subarus or did you just like see one when you were a

kid? Like, where did that come about? So I've always been a car guy. My dad got me into cars

when I was younger. He started more with like, I guess, American cars. I grew up and he had a 72

Corvette. Oh, nice. So I was pretty big into the American muscle scene. And then, you know,

Fast and Furious came out when I was 10 and I saw that in the theaters with one of my good friends

at the time. So then I'd introduced me to a lot of the JDM scene, obviously. It's evolved a lot

since then. But since then, I started getting more into those types of cars. And my friend actually

had an Impreza growing up and his dad had an Outback. He drove that Outback to probably over

200,000 miles, which is crazy. Yeah. And he always told me he was like, you're gonna end up in a

Subaru one day. And back then, like wagons to me, although I love them now is like,

I'm not gonna have like a soccer mom's Subaru. And he was right in the long run. He was right.

And how old were you then? Oh, I was. This is kind of the middle school. I'm 35 now. So

a long time ago. Yeah. I liked playing a lot of the Colin McRae Raleigh games growing up. So

seeing that like, you know, GC8 was awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Obviously, with Ken's influence,

first gym con I came out, I think when I was, I don't know, I was I was early teens at that point.

So he had a huge influence on the car community. I watched rally America whenever I could. I watched

WRC actually when I was in college. That's when Subaru unfortunately wasn't in it anymore. But I

was huge into the rally scene. Still like watching it today. But yeah, there was always like something

about Subaru's, you know, always so cool video. Back then it was like 240p on like YouTube, you

know, yeah, you know, side and sideways and stuff. And you know, over the years, I've just,

you know, grown to admire the cars and, you know, the brand as a whole and what they identify with

and what they stand for. So back to this history. Yeah. So when you started getting interested

in Subaru's, did you think like, Oh, I want to own one of these and I'm going to own one of these

someday, like any particular model or just Subaru in general? Probably in praise. I really liked

obviously before the Outback was even a thing like the, you know, the sport models and all that.

Yeah. Or the other way around, is it? Yeah, I really liked those. I actually never own one. I've

been a Honda guy before this. Funny enough. But you know, then once I took like a liking to more

like, you know, off-roading and I'm a big outdoors person. So, you know, more of the wagons became

like my kind of jam, I guess. Yeah. So that's when I started noticing that. I still like all those

older LOV in addition Outbacks a lot. So yeah, I'd like to own one someday if it's not full of rust.

So did you buy yours, I'm guessing like maybe mid-October of 2023, because your first post was

January of 2024 and you said you'd owned it for two and a half months and you had 3,000 miles. So

I'm guessing it was like October-ish? Yeah. So I, the Subaru dealership I bought it from,

which is in Freehold, New Jersey, Freehold, Subaru, I wanted the green. That's the color I wanted. So

I went there and I wanted to see what their allocation was. And this was in October and they

had one coming in and I told them I wanted it and, you know, I wanted it with this type of thing.

It was built in early November and I received it on November 25th of 2023. It was the first one in

my entire area to have that color. Wow. Nice. Yeah. So what made you decide on the cross-trek and then

the wilderness? Because, you know, obviously you said, you know, you mentioned off-road and outdoor

life and everything. So I know that plays into it. But, you know, going to the cross-trek rather,

oh man, I can't talk, going to the cross-trek rather than like an outback or something,

you know, what was your attraction to the cross-trek?

So to back up a bit, before though, obviously the cross-trek wilderness was available,

the outback and the forester, the first gens were out. I really liked the design language

and the functionality. The outback I liked a lot. I drove that with the turbos. I loved it,

but it was just too big for me. Yeah. I do like the forester. I think it's a great platform.

It's just I came from a civic hashback, so more like kind of like a wagon-y crossover-ish kind of

vehicle. So the forester was more like a small, almost like SUV, if you get what I'm saying.

The cross-trek felt, you know, filled that void really nicely. And I did like the first and

second gen ones, the design a lot. So naturally the cross-trek was the one I gravitated towards.

And after seeing it at the New York Auto Show earlier that year and the guys are blue,

I was like, that's going to be my next car, 100%. And then the wilderness trim, obviously, because

I'm an outdoor person. I like hiking. I like camping. I like, you know, adventuring and doing

things like that. So it made the most sense. Yeah. Yeah. I like the cross-trek because

just I like, I like a hatchback, first of all, and then I like a smaller car because it's like

just so easy to maneuver. And like I drove Falcon Roo one, that's Charlie, his outback,

because whenever I went up with my son to Washington and we hooked up with and met up with

Rugged Roo Crew, he said that I could borrow his car while we were there. Oh, cool. Yeah,

because I originally had talked to some guy that had a Turo cross-trek and I was letting,

Charlie was like, Hey, do you have a car yet? And I said, yeah, I'm getting this cross-trek

through Turo. And he was like, does it have a lift and skid plates? I was like, no. And he goes,

you want to borrow the Falcon? And I was like, yeah, sure. So it was great to drive it. I mean,

it was, you know, having a lift and skid plates, we were able to do some stuff. But yeah, it,

to me, it felt like driving a tank. It was just, it was so big, especially coming from my cross-trek.

And, you know, I like the outback, but for me, it is just a little too big also. I mean, so I get

that. Where did you come up with a name, cladosaurus t-rex? Or is it tracks? It's tracks. I just wanted

to play on like cross-trek, but it's hard to, I guess, kind of hear it because nobody really says

it out loud. So the cross-trek is like super cladded. I know it was pretty polarizing when it

came out, you know, because it has all this plastic on it, but it's actually, you know,

saved my ass a lot because I don't, I only have pinstripes on my car from going out so many times.

I don't have any knock on wood, any paint chips or rock chips or anything like that.

That's good. So I borrowed that and, you know, because I got a green one and thinking like

dinosaur or whatnot. And I was like, I can't do track, like cross-trek. So I might as well just

go and pull out dinosaur mode and I just said t-rex, so tracks. Yeah. I figured that's probably

where it came from, you know, with cladding, cladosaurus. But I just, you know, sometimes it

could be a different story, but yeah, it makes sense, you know, and it fits it for sure.

Yeah, absolutely. Did you, did you have any like other names you were considering or was

it like, I think this is it. It's the only one I think that was it. I wanted something that,

you know, would kind of stand out too. And I think, I mean, the only thing that sucks is like

having like my decal on the side of my car. It's like, it's so long. Yeah. So anybody looking it

up is like typing in the whole thing. But yeah, exactly. But yeah, no, that was kind of like a

first thing and I just went with it. Okay. So like being that it's a wilderness and a cross-trek,

like what is, what would you say is your favorite feature inside and outside of the cross-trek,

you know, just like aesthetics first and then like also functionality?

The inside, you know, they're updated like infotainment system as like,

it can be laggy and stuff at times, but it's pretty nice. You know, I do like, you know,

having physical buttons and everything because that's what I grew up with.

But the transition wasn't too bad for this. So I think it's pretty functional. It's nice seeing,

you know, apps like Gaia, GPS and ONX Offroad and whatnot on a bigger screen too, which is nice.

Yeah. And with the updates, it's been become a little bit better. It's a little bit faster,

not as crazy as the new Outback Wilderness, which is super quick. It's lightning fast.

Nice. But I would say the Star-Tex is a nice feature too.

Yeah. You know, having that water resistance in the car because I've spilled water bottles,

I've had friends spill like coffee and tea in it and it just wipes right up. I know, you know,

they're messy. Yeah. Yeah, I'm wondering like if you can, because I like that's what I would love

to have in mine is different seats. I wonder if like it's available to get in the second gen,

like swap them out someday because I have cloth seats. And because I don't, I don't know if when

I bought mine, if they, because like mine has like a synthetic leather and I know now I don't

think they do any leather at all. But that was one of the reasons I got the base model because

I didn't want any leather. But yeah, changing out the seats would be nice.

Yeah. And they've pretty much like really refined it because I know on the new Outback Wilderness,

it's very durable and it looks really, really nice. Yeah. I remember seeing it at Overland

Expo in Virginia because they had, they had the Wilderness Outback, the new one at Overland Expo

in Virginia. And then they just had like, I don't know, at trim level, but it wasn't the Wilderness

at Subifest, Texas. So it was nice to be able to see both versions of it. And I hope that,

you know, it starts to grow on people because I know there's been a lot of not so happy people

with it. But just from what I've heard, I've heard it's like pretty good car.

It is. It grew on me a lot seeing it in person and seeing everything that they've kind of refined.

It's a great vehicle. I think, you know, the average consumer that's looking for something

like that's going to be happy with what they get. Yeah. So when you bought your Cross Trek,

were you wanting to buy something new? So like a used first gen or second gen or just out of the

question? Yeah, I wanted something new. And then like with the Wilderness and, you know,

the gearing and then the, you know, the CVT cooler and all the other fun stuff that it came with,

standard and the ground clearance. That was kind of like what I was looking for.

It's funny at the time I wasn't looking to go, you know, full on out with modifications,

especially since the third gen were just coming out. And there was nothing really available at

that time. Yeah. It's kind of only, you know, once I started getting a little bit more into,

you know, modding off-road Subaru's and overlanding builds like that, that I kind of started exploring

those options. And I think Instagram kind of ruined, not I want to say ruined, but negatively or

positively however you want to look at it influenced my wallet on those decisions.

So yeah, because like before you bought it, did you, you didn't really have any plans to do any

modifications? Because I mean, like you said, it has the extra clearance. It has the transmission

cooler. So I mean, I think the skid plate was the only thing I was going to end up getting.

Yeah, which makes sense is not not it at all. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, they could have done that a

little bit better. But yeah, mine was in pretty bad shape when I swapped it out for the primitive.

So yeah. So when did you, you said that like Instagram was the, you know, an influence on

you doing modifications, but like, when did you do your first mod and what was it?

So when it comes to like basic stuff, like I said, when I got it in November, there wasn't

really a lot available at that point in time. So I bought, I bought crossbars and I got the,

you know, the Thulia Canyon roof basket so I can put stuff on trips. And I also got like a cargo

box from Thulia as well for longer trips and to put stuff in for weather resistance. But that's,

you know, that's more of like, not I don't know if that's a true modification, I would say

the black Rhino boxer wheels were the first thing that I basically did. I got it on a lift in my

uncle's garage and we swapped the factory ones out and with the TPMS sensors and tires.

So yeah, those are the 17 by eight boxers and gun black. So I did that a couple months after

thinking I bought them in March. I installed them like early April. Now, did you, did you put the

tires that it came with on the black rhinos or did you swap them? You got different tires.

I actually still have them on it. I'm running those to the ground basically. Yeah. So I think

Niddos are are going to be the next, the next one once these kind of go. Okay. But yeah,

no, I've had those on since then. I just did a swap. Okay. How have they been performing?

I mean, overall pretty good. You know, ice and stuff, they are three peak rated, but you know,

we did go out to we meaning off road rules. We went out to AOAA, like, this is like February

last year. And for anybody who doesn't know what that is, it's anthracite outdoor adventure

area. It's an off road park in coal township, Pennsylvania. And we went out there and then

it just started snowing. Like, yeah, we got pretty good snow. All the trails were frozen.

There was a couple jeeps. There was a gladiator. And I think there was a Wrangler Rubicon and

taco and like a forerunner out there. And they were, they thought we all lost our minds because

we were like the only ones out there besides them. But the Sueby's actually handed handled

super well. But of course, we got to a point when we were on a on a blue trail and then the

hill climb was just literally all ice. Oh, man. So, you know, even with airing down and

everything, I don't know necessarily if I had better tires that they would perform better

necessarily. Yeah. The only one who made it over was my friend Dave off trail visuals on here.

He's has an outback wilderness with the turbo and he just went up there. But then we had to

recover him beyond where we all got stuck. That was another word deal in itself. But

overall, they've handled really good. I'm super impressed. I still have apparently like eight

30 seconds tread life left. They have 47,000 miles, which is pretty good. But yeah,

I'm excited to kind of change them out and get something a little bit, you know,

more rugged, especially for running trails. Yeah, I just swapped out my Toyos for some

mile stars and my Toyos had two of them were at 430 seconds, two of them were at 530 seconds.

And I had a little over 50,000 miles on them. So I felt like that was pretty good. But I got a

credit for the two that were 430 seconds because they're rated at 65,000 miles. And but I've been

happy so far with the mile stars. I've only had them for not even a week. And yeah, and I really

like them. So not really much terrain here to really test them. But they don't really have a lot

of road noise. And I mean, like at least like probably no more than my Toyos had when I first

got them new. But I mean, I'm happy with them. I need I needed to save some money. And those

were good things. Yeah. And I know, like, I know a bunch of people that are running them up in the

PMW runs them on his Alpac. Oh, he does. I believe so. Okay, nice. Yeah. Yeah, I like the aggressive

look of them too. They look really nice, really rugged looking. Yeah. So I'm sure people are

probably like, What are you doing driving those around here? It looks cool. It does.

Kind of like a lift would look cool, but I don't really need one. Yeah.

Yeah. So like with the first and second gen cross tracks, you said you you like those like,

and you know, they look good to you. Like, what are some of the things you like about the first

and second gen? I like the design of the first one is very simple looking. You know, when they

came out, I just thought they were cool little cars, you know, I like those OEM wheels that came

with the first. And I think those are pretty timeless looking, in my opinion, from a Subaru

standpoint. They weren't overly complicated. They look nice. You know, from a second gen

standpoint, I think Canada got the cool trim. They had that outdoor trim. I'm sure you know

about that. They had like an outdoor trim that wasn't available to America that had the front

camera. Oh, that's not fair. Which we still don't have in the cross track. Yeah, I know.

That I would like. But I thought that was was really cool that they had that. Yeah.

And that was more of like a natural evolution of the of the first gen. But even the third gen

wasn't a big departure. Like, I don't think it was as polarizing as some of their their newer

models, like with the forest or in the outback redesign. Yeah, because I do see a lot of third

gens on the road, like every day, I have friends that own them. Yeah. So yeah. And I mean, I really

like that all three of the generations that it still looks like a cross track and it does and

seeing, you know, so many of them online. And then being that my daughter has a third gen cross

track, like they've really grown on me a lot because yeah, like with the first gen, I something

about the rear end and the taillights and everything made it like stand out from all the other cars

that I had ever seen at the time. And then when they came out with the second gen, and I saw that

they had changed the taillights and the rear end and stuff, I'm like, I was disappointed at first

because I love the first gen so much. Because like it's happened to me before when I'm like,

not able to get a car yet. And I'll see a particular car. And I'm like, whenever I'm

able to get another car, that's what I'm going to get. And so, you know, I wanted the first gen

and then I could have got bought one used. But by the time I bought mine, the second gen had been

out for like, because they released the second gen in 2018 and I bought mine as a 2021. So they'd

been around for three years, but I really like it a lot. And the third gen is growing on me a lot,

like I said, but just a lot of really nice features and design on it.

Absolutely. It looks like a natural evolution of the vehicle. So I'm just curious what they're

going to do next, but that won't be for a little bit. So were you like, did you already have friends

in the Subaru community before you bought your Crosstrek so that like, whenever you bought it,

you kind of already had people to hang out with or did it come after you bought it?

No, I didn't. You know, I've always gone to like, you know, car shows, cars and coffees and stuff,

and I have friends that are into cars too. None of them actually at this point in their lives

have a Subaru. So it was more after I, you know, I guess I made the account here and then,

you know, I had to remake a Facebook account since I deleted mine in like,

2015 to kind of see what everything was about on, you know, all the groups, you know,

the wilderness groups and all the modified and lifted Crosstrek groups and, you know,

the clubs and all that. And to see like, I was like, oh, look, there's all these events going on here.

So yeah, no, I didn't have any friends. But the first time in the community that is,

the first time I went out was in February of last year, of 20, no, it's two years ago, it's 26,

cheese, February of 24. I went out with what has become off road rules at that point in time.

Got you. And I went to the Pine Barons and my car was totally stock and that was probably the

last time it was actually clean, clean, because that sand, once it's in your car and it gets

everywhere, it's never 100% out. So I went out and, you know, it was a good time. There was a

big turnout. I did meet a lot of people out there and, you know, we did see two cars get,

that had to get pulled out, unfortunately, which was kind of crazy to see in person. We had a lot

of rain at that point in time, but there was a Crosstrek that Jim had to pull out and they pulled

the spark plugs before anything happened and was able to be driven home. And then

another Crosstrek, not Crosstrek, outback got stuck. That needed to be pulled out.

But no hydrologged motors. That's good. Were you nervous going out to the event,

being that yours was stock and thinking like, oh, mine's stock, there's probably going to be a

modified Subaru's and I'm not going to fit in? I think part of me was like that.

You know, I hit trails more or less like three or four days after I bought the car.

Nice. I went out, you know, six flags, great adventures by me and, you know, there are some

legal trails out there that I went around. And, you know, obviously I was super careful when I

was just with me and, you know, my friends in my car because I had no, I wasn't going to self-recover.

I didn't have a windshield or anything like that. I didn't go with anybody. So it hit dirt before,

but, you know, I wasn't driving through, you know, puddles of mud, getting my engine totally,

like, covered, you know. But going out there, yeah, there was like, ah, all these guys probably

have like modified cars and everything. And there were, I think some of them were like,

stock or stock OEM plus builds out there, which was a little bit more reassuring.

But I think a lot of people were just stoked to see cross-track wilderness out there,

like more or less months after it came out.

So you were the only one that had one at that event, huh?

I did. And there was an outback wilderness with me too, but I think it had light modifications

with it, but I was the only cross-track wilderness. Yeah.

Okay. Nice.

Yeah. It was cool. Yeah.

Had a lot of fun.

I don't remember when it happened, but were you with them when Jim's

outback got hydro-locked in the water and he got stuck?

No, that was a little bit before my time.

Okay.

I've seen that video a lot. So, but, and then he snorkeled it, so.

Yeah. Yeah. Yep.

So you said when you, so like I mentioned earlier, your first post being in January and you had

3,000 miles. So that was in 2024. How many miles do you have on it now? This is like

two, two years and a month later?

Yeah. I'm just shy of 42,000.

Okay. Yeah. Not too bad.

No, not too bad. I daily in my car. So, I like daily in my car, but not terribly high. Although

some people think it's high, especially in the age where, you know, a lot of people work from home

when they don't drive out a whole lot, but.

Yeah. People are always surprised at my mileage. They're like, what? I'm like.

What are you at?

141. Oh, wow. That's awesome.

Yeah. So I, I joke with my girlfriend and say like, yeah, I drive back and forth to Dallas a

lot. She's like, that's not where most of your miles came from. And it's, it's probably like

maybe 25 or 30% of my mileage, but I just drive around here a lot. I mean, plus like me and my

son go into downtown pretty often, but I mean, yeah, I have driven back and forth to Dallas a

lot. My first trip was out to Colorado. I've driven up to Madison, Wisconsin for Subaru Flatfest.

When my daughter was going to school in Arkansas, I drove out there several times.

I've been to Austin and San Antonio several times. And then I mean, just around, I mean,

it's the only car I have, you know, it's just like a single car household. And so if I have to go to

the store, if I'm going to my mom's, if I'm going to my daughter's, you know, wherever I go, it's

just me. There's only one car. Taking the cross drive. Yeah. But I just, I mean, there's times when

there's times whenever I'm kind of bored and I just want to get out of the apartment. So I'll

go for a drive. But yeah, it's, it's crazy to me too, because I'm a little over 141,000 miles

and I still have the original clutch. No way. Yeah. I'm just like, man, how long is this thing in

the last? You know, I don't know if I'm like setting some kind of a record or something, but

Subaru reach out if he's setting a record. Yeah. You put it in a museum. Yeah. Put it in the

you know, and I'm not always nice and easy going on my car. But it's, yeah, I don't know. We'll see.

That's great. Yeah. I need to get another one soon just so I have one available.

Yeah, probably not a bad idea. Yeah. So like you went out to that first event and you met a bunch

of people then, then I guess it was just like on from there, huh? Yeah. I mean, I was one of like

the first Cross Trek wilderness accounts, I guess on Instagram and it's kind of just went from there.

And I've actually met some other Cross Trek wilderness owners that I'm friends with today

that started it around the same time, which is pretty cool. So shout out Joe, who's Geyserru on

Instagram and my buddy John, who's Satoshi X Trek, although it has a bunch of numbers in it,

you can figure it out. If you look at my account, him and Joe are probably in almost all of the,

you know, three, all three of us are out together. So you can look them up. And then I've talked to

people, you know, over, I guess the past couple years, especially newer owners that, you know,

ask about, you know, how do I do this or how do I do that? Or, you know, people like, Oh,

you live in this area, like I want to come out to an event. And I'm like, Oh, you should come out.

And then people will just pull up this past weekend. I met people for the first time that,

I guess I've been following or been followed by them for a long time, which is pretty cool. You

know, I can get everybody together through things like that. Yeah. So like you went from not really

having any Subaru friends to now, you're kind of like in a position where you can

help other people come into the community and come in to off-road Subaru or off-road Roos

and then make them feel comfortable. You know, it's kind of cool how that transition happens,

you know? Yeah, it is pretty cool. I didn't think I'd be in a position like this, you know.

Yeah, but it's awesome. You know, most of the events are done through Facebook, but

not everybody has Facebook, like me included until I had to make another one. So

I'm aware of people who live in my area. So whenever something comes up, or even if I plan

something and get a small group together, I'll just shoot people direct messages and give them

information. And that's how a lot of people have come out, which is really cool. Yeah. And so,

speaking of off-road Roos, I know we were talking about it before on the Subi Scoop, but

you all have a lot of members. And members, I guess it's just like Facebook members in the

Facebook group. But then, how many people like in your direct area are like a part of off-road

Roos that get together, would you say? Or do you know like have that number?

There's a lot of us. I think, well, from like quote unquote members, I think on the Facebook

it's almost 7,000 now. Yeah. I think it was created in April of 24 is when I think that

page was made. And, you know, Rob is obviously has done a whole lot for the community and

he's gotten that thing off the ground. And then, you know, I don't know how he does it.

We both don't know how he does it. But there's a handful of us in the immediate, I guess,

tri-state area, tri-state meaning New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania region that, you know, we

go out to these events or try to be a presence at them. Sometimes, you know, we have life stuff and

you can't make it. But generally, we're out there. So I'm out there, Jim, obviously.

Then there's Isaiah and Ben and Rob. And I know you've had them, I think, on the podcast when

they did our Utah segment. And then Nick, who lives in Pennsylvania, has come out. And even Ron,

shout out Ron, who lives outside of Pittsburgh and drives six plus hours to come out to our events

and is driven cross-country with us, which is really cool. So there's a lot of familiar people

here that come out and, you know, help run everything and, you know, try to make people

comfortable. And then we do have usually, you know, people who just come out to all the events in

general, which is really cool. We see a lot of familiar faces and a lot of new ones every time.

Yeah, we were talking about this earlier and it just kind of hit me that, you know, you're

throwing out all these names, names that, you know, people that I know and people that I've,

some of them I've had on the podcast. But then I'm like, all these, like a lot of these people

I've actually met in person too, which just, you know, it just seems crazy to me because

I'm in Houston and you all are way up there, you know, on the eastern part of the U.S.

and I've met y'all and it's like, what other situation would we be in? I mean, yeah, I mean,

there are situations, but, you know, being part of this community and having opportunities to

travel for some of us, it's just really cool that we get to meet people from all over the country

and not just in our local area. And I just feel, I feel very blessed with that. And

Absolutely. And I think a lot of people do when they get, you know, because like everybody,

a lot of people came down from Adventure 1 to Overland Expo in Virginia. And so there were

people that were going to that event that got to meet people from up there and, you know, it's just,

it's just really cool. That's really cool. I'm looking forward to meeting a lot of those guys

at some point, hopefully this year. I know Sean comes back and forth between them and us,

Jamie, the Subie. He surprised us this weekend, which is pretty cool. Yeah, so it's always cool

to see all these, you know, groups all over and everybody comes out and, you know, hangs out and

has a good time. And everybody's, you know, super accommodating and welcoming because that's how

it should be. Oh yeah, absolutely. And then like if y'all can like cross collaborate with each other,

you know, even better, just do more good in the community together.

Absolutely. Anybody wants to send me a message or whatever wants to plan something, let me know.

Yeah, yeah. So after you did, you know, you said you put the roof rails and the basket and then the

wheels on, like what were some of the next mods that you did? And then can you kind of like catch

us up with where you're at now?

Yeah, so I think the next thing after a wheel is I did the CA tuned off road, the brush bar.

It's a pretty cool story, how I got that. So I am a brand ambassador for them. Shout out Dave Chen,

off trail visuals. I mentioned him earlier. He reached out to me shortly after I made my account

because I was one of the first cross track wilderness owners on the platform and asked if I

wanted to potentially be like a brand ambassador for the company since he was one for his Alpac

wilderness. And you know, me being like super hesitant still, because I made a car account

on Instagram. I don't know, this guy trying to scam me or something. And you know, and you know,

he's like a friend now, obviously, but I was a little bit leery at first. But then, you know,

he put me in touch with Max, who runs CA tuned off road. And, you know, he, they got me in touch

with him. And then I got the, that brush bar within like, I think like a couple of days in

me ordering it came straight from them. And everything is made made there. And I just took

the, you know, the tow hook covers off and then I put it in. It took me like, you know, maybe 20

minutes or so once I got the fitment and everything in. And that was like the first like, I guess

outside wheels like modification that I did with that. Yeah. And one that was a collaboration,

like, you know, like you said, you know, you just start this car account and somebody reaches out

to you. It's just, it's, it's cool how some of those things work out, you know. Yeah, absolutely.

Especially in like, at a time when there wasn't, you know, a lot of available options. Yeah.

You know, I know a lot of people, even on the Facebook groups, whenever I would pop in once

in a while, people like, Hey, what's, what's around? I just got this crush check, but I

can't find anything on the aftermarket, you know, even wheels were tough, you know, with the bolt

pattern that they have now. Yeah. A lot of loved favorites, like especially from, from Method and

other brands, like you couldn't get anything in that pattern. So that's why I went with the Black

Rhinos, you know, it's a Subaru wheel, you know, the Boxer's a Subaru built, it was built for them.

So, but yeah, that was the first thing it was the, the brush bar. And then after that,

and I did skid plates after I have primitive racing triple skids from front to back.

And they've certainly come in handy. So yeah, yeah, they're a little banged up, but they,

they've come in handy. I did, I think, oh no, before I did the primitive, I did, I have a

nameless axle back executive exhaust on it. Oh, nice. Which is nice. So that's the only part of

my exhaust that's not rusted because, you know, unfortunately, that's just the way the exhausts

are built these days, like, you know, it just rusts like when you look at it. But yeah, I have that,

and it's nice because it's not big and clunky. And then when you're on the trails and stuff,

you don't have to worry about anything hitting the factory one, you know? Oh, yeah. Yeah. And

they're a good quality. And then I did that first, and then I did the primitive racing

skid plates, which were huge, especially since I was, you know, doing like lighter trails and

stuff without them. But when I took the factory one off, it was totally shot. Like, it basically

disintegrated when I took it off. And all this like pine barons, like sand came out. And I was

putting this thing on. And then it's, it's, it's been put to good use, I would say over the past,

you know, two years or so. Yeah. Yeah. That's what they're for. Yep. I have, I swapped out the

Tully basket. I have a YAKAMA lock and load platform K on it. I was looking at no drill

roof racks initially. But I liked to do everything myself. And I didn't trust myself to

drop the headliner and potentially result in massive leaking in my car. I don't know anything

about that. So I got the, I got that platform and I just put that on top of the factory crossbars.

And it's been great so far. It's been great. And, you know, I can put the, the Tully on top of it,

although it's going to be a little bit tall, I've run that on top of it with, you know, traction

boards and other stuff. So that's been great. Yeah, it looks good. I have, yeah, thanks. It's,

it's a good platform and you can get deals on it. I know people who found good ones on, on marketplace

and stuff. So you don't have to spend a lot of money, you know, for something like that.

I do have, I have the NOVESITE X series lights on my car that are mounted to the CA tune brush bar.

Yeah, I saw those. I was wondering what those were.

Yeah, he helped me install them Geyseroo like a year or so ago, I think at this point.

And they're great. I do have diode SC2s that I'm going to do at some point for ditch lights.

Maybe when it gets warmer, I'll put those on. But the NOVESITE's have been good. I do like the

backlight. You can just put the, the illuminated X's on for like running lights, which is really

cool when you drive around with them. Nice. Yeah. So that's, that was cool. I do have the CA

tuned rock sliders. I think that's what came next. FACTS reached out to me and they, and they got

those to me, which is really cool. And they, they, they go, they wrap under. So they're really,

really good and very durable. It's a great product. So I'm not just saying that because I'm

brand ambassador. It's great. It's actually, I've actually, you know, had them say in my

ass probably a couple times. Yeah. So when you do the ditch lights, are you going to do yours

up on the hood or on the sides by the mirrors? I think I'm going to do the mirrors. Okay. Yeah.

I'm going to do mirrors. I had mine. I had some Nihilites that I had up on the hood at first.

And then when I got the Morimoto ditch lights, Patrick from Orbis Overlanding gave me some

of the ditch light brackets and I ended up mounting the Morimoto's to those. And I, I do like,

to me, I like the look of it being on the side better than on the hood. I liked it on the hood

at first, but now like when I look back at those pictures, I'm like, I just don't like it. I mean,

you know, I mean, everybody has their own, you know, preference on, on things, but I just,

I don't know. I like them on the side better. Yeah. I figure with the front ones already mounted

and I want some more lighting on the side so it has better coverage. I was just going to go with

where the, by where the mirrors are. Yeah. Yeah. It's a good look. Any, anything else?

I have a, I have an awning. I have a born off road awning on the side.

And then from an aesthetic purpose, purpose, like my guess is I have the, I have the topographic

on the side. Yeah. To wrap lander. What is that? What does that represent? Like where you're,

where you are, that topography? No, I didn't, it's not that deep.

No, I thought I looked cool. I always thought Topo looked cool. I know Rallytex done that a lot

and on their rigs, which is really cool. And yeah, I saw it. I think it's like right when the brand

was getting off the ground because he does tread cred to those trail badges. He's the same owner.

Oh, okay. And then I saw an ad for that. And at that point, like nobody really had that on any,

any like super, at least in my area. So I bought the kit. It was the middle of winter of last year

and I don't garage my car. So I was out in like 30 degree weather with a heat gun doing it.

Oh my gosh. And I almost got frostbite, I think.

But it looked cool. It was worth it. A lot of people, yeah, it was worth it. It's held up.

It's probably protected my paint to an extent from my trail rash and from all the brush and

everything. So if I ever take it off, it's just going to look like a bunch of uninterrupted lines

and, you know, interrupted lines in my clear coat. But yeah, no, it's a good product. A couple

people have it now, which is pretty cool. Yeah, it looks really good. Yeah, it comes pretty

cut. So it's a kit and a lot of like the circular elements are already cut to spec. And then you

have the lines of different thicknesses that you can just mold and bend them. Nice. And you can

make it as simple or as intricate as you want. I want for more simple. So I could always change

it. You know, I have a lot left over. They give you a lot. So that's cool. Yeah, pretty cool.

No, because I was just like thinking if the topography was like specific to where you live

or something, I was thinking... Oh, it'd all be flat and then there'd be no topography.

Well, because that's what I was thinking. Like if I were to do something here, it'd just be just

a bunch of straight lines if it was accurate. Yeah. I'm sure if you found like, you know, if you lived

out anywhere with like mountainous terrain, you could probably find like the actual topo and like

maybe laser cut, you know, something like that and put it on your rig. I think people have done

that before. So yeah, I've seen somebody do it with topography on their hood, maybe not on their

whole car. I mean, I'm sure somebody may have, but I remember seeing somebody, I don't remember who it

is, but they had like a topography map on their hood and they were like, oh, this is like the area

that either like, either where they lived or someplace that they really like going often or

something, something like that. Yeah. Yeah, it's cool. It's a nice little extra, I think, you know.

Yeah. And I think that's pretty much it. So right now, it's more like an OEM plus build. I don't

have any suspension stuff right now. Like I said, I drive my car every day. Yeah. If this were to

become a second car, I would probably maybe do some more to it. But as of now, it's done everything

that I needed to do. I'm not trying to do anything crazy, you know? Yeah. So do you have any other

mods, like minor mods that you are going to consider doing? I mean, I know you said the

ditch lights, but anything else beyond that? Or are you like at a point where you're like,

I'm happy with my build the way it is and I don't really need to do anything else?

Yeah, right now for what I like doing when it comes to like, you know, hitting trails and

going camping and stuff. It's pretty much dialed in for what I like doing.

New tires, like we talked about earlier, are going to probably be at some point.

But yeah, like from a suspension, you know, lift standpoint, I think, you know,

the, what I have stock is pretty good for what it is. But if I had to do any, if I was going to

do some more serious trail stuff, I would probably go off the deep end with that. So

yeah, I know because there's some people that are like, Oh, the mods never stop. You know,

they just keep going. I just say build at your own pace. You know, it's easy to get carried away

and like in this day and age, especially with social media and, you know, all the cool new

stuff that's coming out. But, you know, I always say, you know, if you're going to use it and

you're going to get value out of it, I would buy it. Yeah. But if you're just doing it kind of just

to keep up, I wouldn't say that's the best idea, but to each their own. Yeah. I mean,

there's, there's two reasons that I don't have a lift. One, because it's expensive and I don't,

you know, I don't want to spend the money. And two, I just don't need it. You know,

if I ever at some point have like a surplus of money where I can just go blow some money, then

I would love to get a lift because I love the way it looks. And I wouldn't do anything crazy,

but I'd want to lift it enough to where you can tell, you know, and it has, right. And it looks

like it has a lift, but I kind of like the way mine sits a little bit, you know, at stock height.

I think it looks cool. Yeah, yours looks great. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, mine's, I feel like

mine is like OEM plus, but, you know, I'm happy with it. Yeah. That's what counts. Yeah. So I saw

that you have one of the SoFly window covers and you've got the decal on your car. Is that

do you do like a lot of car camping or camping, I guess, in your car? And that's why you decided

to try it out? Yeah, I, even this past weekend I car camped. But yeah, I typically car camp,

if it's like brutally hot, I would rather sleep in a tent for better ventilation,

but especially for, you know, spring and early summer and even fall. I used to use those nets

where you would put over your door frame and you'd lower your window and, you know, get some air

flowing there. It's okay. I mean, it's like, I bought those off Amazon and it's like,

they got the job done, I guess. Yeah. But yeah, I saw SoFly, you know, before I even went to

Boxer Fest, because when I went to Boxer Fest, that's when I met Corey for the first time. I met

her at the pre-meat at the ice cream place. And then I got to actually order the product on the

day of the event. So shout out to her. She's doing a great job. Yeah. It's a great product. It's

super durable. It's weather resistant. She does it by hand. Yeah, I know. It's crazy.

Different models. The price is great for what you get. So I would highly, highly recommend it.

It's easily easy to deploy and to fold back up. It fits in a little bit of a pouch and then you

get all the telescopic things out and then has the, it's like a little, just pops out and then you

can lower your window and you get good airflow in. Yeah. No, that's a really good product. And I've

seen it in person because I got, because Derek had one on his rig at Overland Expo in Oregon.

And then I met her in Virginia, which was really cool. Yeah. So again, one of those, like I was

in Oregon seeing her product and then I'm in Virginia actually getting to meet her. So it's

pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah. Great person, great product. Support it. So I was looking at your account

and you have all, like it seems like the majority of your photos are not on pavement. Like you've

got, you know, which I mean, it makes sense because you've got a cross-track wilderness

and where you live and everything, but like how often do you actually get out to hit the trails?

I like to go at least maybe once a month. You know, I ideally like to go more, you know,

obviously with life stuff, work and things like that, there's always a lot going on. Yeah. There's

a lot of, you know, forest out in Pennsylvania that I want to explore. There's a lot of trails out

there. So I'm hoping to do that this year. But yeah, no, I try to go out at least, you know,

once a month, twice a month, maybe if I can squeeze it on a weekend. Yeah. And is it mostly like

people from off-road rues that you're getting with? And do you do any solo exploring?

So yeah, there are people from off-road rues that come out to our events that come out with me and

well, because they, it's like, they'll message me separately and like, do you want to go out? So

we'll plan to go out or it'll be like an official off-road rues event. Got you. Yeah. Okay. And

then as far as solo exploring goes, I'm not a big solo explorer. I've done it before. Like, I go

hiking and stuff, you know, obviously nothing crazy when I go out by myself. But usually I do

things in groups with, whether it's my actual friends at home, trying to separate them from the

Subi friends that I've made. But it's more from the Subi friends, I would say at this point,

because everybody has like a similar mindset with the outdoor stuff. Yeah.

Yeah. How do you balance that life? You know, these friends and Subi friends, you know, sorry.

So my friends have actually come out and gone on a trail ride. Shout out one of my best friends,

his name's Kevin. He's met like, I guess, half the people that I go out with and he's come out.

He drove his Miata out one time when he parked his car. And then I think he met Ron was like,

oh my God, look at this forester. And, you know, then he wrote shotgun and I always tell my friends

who don't have vehicles like, hey, you could just come and mine. Yeah, absolutely. But no, we hang

out, we plan stuff and do off pavement things whenever we can, but try to find a good balance,

you know, especially when people have kids and things like that. Yeah, it's tough.

Yeah. So I know that y'all are not just out there having fun, because I know you do a lot of trail

cleanups and stuff. And we talked about that some on the Subi scoop, like how much y'all have

collected and how much you were. It's unfortunate that you have to put a number to say like,

this is how much we're hoping to collect this year, because you shouldn't have to collect

anything at all. But you know, it's good that there are people out there cleaning up after

the people that don't care. Yeah, I mean, it's like thousands of thousands of pounds of garbage

at this point, which is crazy, you know, you have like a huge forest that is, you know,

the pine barrens and people just use it as a garbage disposal, which is not great. You drive

all the way out and to the middle of nowhere to throw things out. I mean, there's got to be

a better way, you know, yeah, it's crazy. Actually, last year, so we did two, I was at two of them,

was like a two day thing. Last year, where we picked out a lot, there was a big turnout for that.

At one point, we were pulling out, somebody had like,

then they renovated their bathroom and literally dumped their entire bathroom.

Jim was really digging in there, but we were pulling out fixtures. There was a toilet out

there, it was crazy. You put out bed frames, couches, you name it. Which is a lot of effort

if you think about it, if you're going to put something in like a pickup and then drive out

into, you know, the middle of the woods on a dirt road to throw out your garbage. There's

much, much better and more environmental friendly alternatives, you know?

Yeah. It's just people are crazy. I know that y'all use Isaiah a lot to pull stuff out.

Because when I had him on, he was talking about how really, really great the sandbar does out

there and picking, you know, going through the trails and being able to make it and pulling

out stuff. So it's good to have that. Yeah. It's a little vehicle and can get in a lot of spots

that some of the bigger cars like the Ascentz and the Alpecs can't reach either, you know?

Yeah. And I didn't even really think about it in that way now that you put it like that. Because

I was thinking like, you know, just the fact that he has a truck bed that can utilize it to haul

trash. But yeah, that makes a lot of sense that because it's so small, it can get into a lot of

places. And there was the job that I used to work at. There was a guy that ended up buying one.

So I finally got to see one in person, like more up close, because I've seen him at like

Subifest, Texas and stuff. But like getting to see one and he let me drive it around the parking

lot a little bit. And which was really, you know, it was, that was interesting and pretty cool. But

yeah, they're definitely, I mean, they're just, they're, they're super cool. And they, but yeah,

they're so small. Yeah. Yeah. It's always funny when you, when you see him bring that out.

But it's for a good cause. Yeah. Oh yeah. So like getting out and everything and you talked about

how many miles you have on it. Like what's the furthest distance you've traveled? And I mean,

do you like get outside of Pennsylvania much? The funny thing is like, I haven't taken many,

many long trips on this. So a lot, like a lot of the parks I've been to out like maybe four or

five hours on Pennsylvania. I have been obviously the national parks before I bought, you know,

the Subaru. So I've been to Maine, I've been to Acadia a number of times. I've gone, you know,

all the way down to, you know, Virginia and whatnot. So hopefully to take it on some longer

trips, I was supposed to take it to Utah this summer. You know, I was supposed to be with

all the other guys, but I rolled my ankle like two days before on my right one, which I need to

drive. Yeah. Way to go, man. Yeah. Way to go, right? I probably would be at like 50,000 miles by

now. But yeah, so that would have probably been the longest because that was like over 6,000,

I think, going there and back. It was a lot. Yeah, it is a lot. But it was nice because I

I got to, you know, sit and kind of relax a bit when everybody else was killing themselves on the

road to like 14 hours. Yeah. I did get to drive Stormy Ronsburg, which is really, really awesome

on the way back. So shout out to Ron. You got hopefully some good sleep when I was driving.

And then that actually, that actually made me want to consider like lifting mine. I was like,

oh man, like this thing sits so much higher. It feels awesome. And yeah. So the wheels got

returning a little bit at that point, but that would have probably been the furthest trip.

Okay. But I do want to give it out to the Pacific Northwest and hopefully the West Coast at some

point in my car, you know, and meet up with some people from the community out there. Yeah. Sure.

Yeah. You mentioned earlier, you knew a guy with an outback that had like 200,000 miles on it or

over. My son's outback has like 216 right now, I think. And yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. And mine,

you know, I mentioned earlier, 141, like I want to see how many miles I can get on mine. Like,

I just, you know, I think it'd be fun to just drive around and be like, yeah,

my cross track has like 200,000 miles or 230 or whatever. And because I mean,

it's like other than blowing out the viscous coupling, you know, which is, that was my doing,

I haven't had any major problems with it. You know, I switched out my axles because I thought

this was what it was. And both of my axle seals ended up leaking and I had those replaced by a

shop. But I mean, other, and that was because of me replacing them. But other than that, like,

it's been driving so great. Like it's still great to hear. Yeah, it still does. Like,

I don't know, I feel like it obviously it's different than when I first bought it, but

it feels the same to me, which is great. You got to get one of those like

200k mileage club badges for your car. Yeah. Yeah, it was it was cool because like,

whenever I was getting into the 120s, I got it on video of when I hit 123456.

I think we all do that even if we really don't admit it.

Yeah. Yeah, you're either recording it at a, at a super low speed or you're pulling over to

take a video. Yeah. When you hit it. I know. And then so like when I hit 100, and then when I was

hitting that, I was like, I don't want to miss it. Like I'm going to be like so mad if I end up

missing it. And I'm like, oh crap, I missed it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I remember when I hit 140

not too long ago, I was like, man, that's crazy. Yeah. And it's just going to keep climbing.

Yep. Let's see where it takes you. I'm curious now. Yeah. So you give me updates. Oh yeah.

So you mentioned two people earlier that have cross-track wildernesses. Are those the only

other people that you've met in person that have a cross-track wilderness?

No, Alexis, she's got her handle's blaze wilderness on Instagram. She has a sun blaze

pearl and she's come out before. Oh, okay. Nice. She actually came out when, when she was pregnant

and she was driving. So there's this one trail. It's called the power lines trail because it,

you follow them out basically. And it's just like, it's rutted and it has tons of dips and

everything. And it just goes like that for like a segment. And her baby at the time was, I don't

think was too happy with her driving on that. But yeah, she comes out. I think she's in Pennsylvania.

And then it's mostly, it's mostly John and Joe that have come out. But this past weekend at the

event, I met someone, his name is Phil Boba Fett. It's like B-B-A-F-E-T-T, I think, on Instagram.

He's got a Alpine Green. So it's the first time I've actually had somebody else with my car come

out. Gotcha. Yeah, I just pretty cool. And he just installed his skid plates and he has like a rally

innovations front mount bar on his car, which is pretty cool. Yeah. I know it's cool to see like

all these different accounts and what people are doing as far as modifications and then some of the

names that they come up with, you know, it's kind of cool and fun. Yeah, I remember he was messaging

me. He was like, I want something cool. And he was like, you think this is cool? I'm like, yeah,

if you like that type of thing, why not? It's like two hobbies and one. Yeah, absolutely. And then

there was another guy this weekend, his name is Andrew. He actually came out for the first time.

I think he lives in Jersey too, down south. So if you're listening, he had a Geyser Blue one

and he brought his out and he had a lot of fun. That's cool. This is about, you know. Yeah. I

like to see more. So anybody that wants to come out or if you have one and you want us to drive

out to you, let me know. Yeah, I mean, it's all about just like community, of course. But I think,

you know, showing people like where they can go and what they can do with their car that maybe

they didn't know. Because I mean, even if you have a stock Crosstrek or stock, you know, Outback

or whatever, there are a lot of people find out that they're way more capable than they realize.

And then once they see that and they're around a bunch of modified rigs and they're like, oh,

crap. Yeah, you kind of get the itch and then go down the rabbit hole there.

You know, but I mean, even if you don't do any like physical modifications, you know,

like maybe you just, you don't really want to or you can't really afford it,

you can always do decals because decals are very affordable and it helps you

personalize. Because I mean, I know a lot of people did that. I mean, that's what I did in

the beginning. And that's how I got Jen on as my first guest, you know, just being able to make

something your own and it's just, it's fun that way too. Yeah, absolutely. I think that's really

cool. And then your car is pretty easily identifiable at that point. Yeah, it's just the person like

we were talking about. Oh, I recognize that car because it has all this stuff on it,

but I don't know who the driver is. So I'm just going to stand here awkwardly until they show up

and hope it's the actual person who owns the car. Yeah, or you just you have to ask somebody else

that you know knows who they are and be like, Hey, where is the driver of this car? Because I

want to meet them. Yeah, there's no way I'm going to be able to pick them out because I never see

them. No, yeah. And it's like meeting people for the first time. It's like,

so that's what you look like. And I mean that the nicest way possible. Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean,

it's just it's literally like, Oh, that's what you look like. Yeah. And then what's cool too is,

is like getting to meet somebody, whether you've been chatting with them for a year or even for a

week, it's like, you know, give like a big hug and you know, it's like, it's just like instant

connection. Yeah. It's so fun. Because it's like, you're almost like friends at that point, you

know, because you found, you know, somebody who's like minded and likes doing the same type of thing

and it just translates over naturally in person. Yeah. Yeah. I found out pretty much with every

interaction I've had with people over the past two plus years has been like that. Yeah. So

having your cross track for as long as you have, what is something that surprised you most about

its capabilities? I think like just the car in general, like I said, I never owned a Subaru

beforehand and then, you know, going for something with the wilderness trim and it's like,

you're out and they're like, Oh, you should try this hill climb and do this. And I'm like,

Oh, is it going to make it? Because it, you know, at some of those points, it was stock.

Yeah. And technically, in some ways, without a lot of the protection, it's still mostly,

it's stock. And, you know, and then you do it and then it does it, you know? Yeah. It's like,

Oh, wow, that's really cool. Yeah. You know? So I think it surprised me a lot. Like whenever I,

you know, try new things that I know won't potentially break my car and I do it and then

it ends up being successful. I'm like, Oh, that's awesome. Like, you know, it can do this too.

Yeah. You've done a lot of, I've seen a lot of videos on your page where you're driving through

mud puddles and that, that looks fun. Yeah, it's fun. You just got to, you know,

be careful because in our area, they're like rutted out by like, you know,

jeeps on like 35. So if you take a band line, your car is just going to sink and

flood out everything. End up like Jim. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, Jim, but your car is awesome. So.

Oh yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah. So you talked earlier about when you were

going up the hill and it was all icy and everything. So, you know, there's a limitation

there as far as like just the condition is going to be difficult for a lot of cars. Yeah,

it's terrible. So, but like, have you, have there been any other limitations that you've come across

with it? Not really. I got stuck once. I went out like when I first got my car and my good friend

that I told you did has done ride-alongs with me. Yeah. His buddy has like a power wagon. The guy

is actually like, flooded that thing and like, flipped it on its side and it was an expensive

truck. Yeah. So we went out to the Pine Marins and yeah, it's pretty cool because he, you know,

it was a lot about history. So he gave us like this whole history tour about like, you know,

when this, you know, plane crash and he actually took us to the site and we found like debris from

the accident that was like 20 plus years or something ago, which is really cool. But we were

driving and it was totally flooded out and that the route he took, obviously he's basically super

lifted in a power wagon and this one area, like my car, like because of the, I guess, the whole,

every line was like bad basically. So he just went through it and it's like, well, I have to be careful

here. So it's like, be as careful as you can. And then that was it. So I climbed out my window

and then I did tow hook, you know, that goes to the front where the little gold inserts are.

Yeah. He basically pulled me out from that. So that's good. Yeah. Carefully, obviously. Yeah,

carefully. That's before I had the brush bar or anything. It's totally stock. There was nothing,

nothing on the car. But that was the first time and, you know, no hydro locking, thankfully.

Yeah. And that, I mean, that doesn't sound like it's too bad. Just, you know, got stuck.

No, it wasn't terrible. And the water was thankfully from like an actual, it was like a stream that

flowed into like a bigger body. So it wasn't like a mud. Yeah. So what do you like to drive

through most mud or snow? Or you've been on sand too. Like, what's your favorite?

Yeah. Pine Barrens is mostly like this sandy soil that's pretty characteristic in the South Jersey

area. That's, you know, that's what we drive through the most is basically like, you know,

35, 40 minutes or more I live. But I do like mud. It's a lot of fun to drive through as long as

it's not like, it gets everywhere though. So it really doesn't matter. Like your engine shot when

you're done. But that was a lot of fun too. You know, I like driving through like fresh powder,

you know, that's totally untouched. I've done that a couple of times. Not a big fan of ice though,

like this past weekend, which we'll be sure we'll get to at some point. There was a lot of ice because

it's been, it's been in like the 20s in Jersey overnight and everything was just frozen. So.

Yeah. Cause I saw that y'all had to abandon one place that y'all were going to go because it was

too iced over, right? Yeah. Thankfully we got to the sand pits, which was on the itinerary the

first day, but we made it there the second day. And that's where a lot of those pictures popped

up that you probably saw. Okay. People driving up those, you know, those hill climbs and all that.

So. Well, we can, let's go ahead and talk about the event. Yeah. So it was great. Subaru America

was kind enough to let us have a brand new 26 outback wilderness and a

forest or hybrid out there. And, you know, a lot of people came out and they brought their own cars

and, you know, they signed to do a ride along. So Rob and Jim both drove both of those cars.

They alternated and they got to show people, you know, what they were capable of. So they,

you know, they took them off road through some muddy areas, some rotted out areas, you know,

we had the mud, we had the snow, we had the ice, which was pretty nice to get a variety of different

types of terrain. Yeah. And, you know, it was pretty successful. The first day, I think there was

like 20 or 21 vehicles that came out, which was awesome. Yeah. And the second day was maybe like

16 or so that came out. So it was a big turnout. You know, we didn't know, you know, we don't know

in the wintertime people, you know, say they come out and then it's like too cold and they won't

come out. Yeah. You know, family stuff comes up because it's a weekend, but and it was Valentine's

Day weekend too. Oh yeah, that's right. I'm happy we had the turnout that we had. It was nice and

people had a good time. So that's what counts. Yeah. The cars are great. You know, they're super,

super capable. If I remember correctly, the outback wilderness had single digit mileage when

it was picked up from the headquarters, which is really, really cool. And then they apparently had,

they cleaned them and they went out to Colorado this week. So they got loaded up after they were

detailed to be shown somewhere else. So nice. Yeah, they were SOAs cars, not dealership cars,

Subaru's cars. That's cool. Which is pretty cool. And that wasn't the first

only outback wilderness we had. Holly, who's Elphi the OBW on Instagram, who's John's girlfriend,

she picked hers up like two weeks ago. I actually, when they went to the dealership, I showed up

because I needed to see it in person. It's that deep emerald green pearl, which I think is one of the

nicest green Subaru has done as of late. It looks amazing in person. Yeah. And it's a really nice

car. You know, the Forester, when I first saw it, you know, I've seen so many on the road now

because they're everywhere, the new gen. Yeah. But the hybrid was really nice. That blue, I think

it was horizon blue. Somebody told me it was a really nice color. It handled pretty well. I mean,

listen, it wasn't a wilderness. It didn't come with the all terrains or anything like that. But

it did pretty well out there. You know, we weren't doing anything crazy with it, obviously,

because it's a Subaru vehicle. Yeah. But the Outback Wilderness was great. And they switched

tires. So they have different tires on them now. They don't have Yokohomes. Oh, that's right. Yeah,

they do. I forgot about that. I think they're like bridge stones or something like that.

It was great. They felt great. So I was pleasantly surprised by the new tire setup that they had

coming with them. Nice. From the factory. Yeah, that's good. It's a beautiful car. I had like

my reservations, you know, I do like the aesthetics of the original generation because I like wagons

a lot. But the new one seeing it in person, like, it looks great. I think they did a good job.

I feel that, you know, people are going, I think they've already warmed up to it because I'm seeing

them in my area now. I see maybe two or three a week in my area. Nice. Yeah. Actually, I drove

to the city the other day and I saw three of them out in New York and on Long Island. Yeah,

I'm trying to remember if I've seen any out here. I don't recall, but you know, I mean, one of the

things like about Subaru is they've always, for the most part, have been very funky and different

looking from all other brands and the new Outback Wilderness definitely fits that.

You know, it appeals to somebody and I think even people that didn't like it at first,

like, you know, they're starting to warm up to it, but you know. Yeah, that was me. I wasn't 100%

sold and I think a lot of it had to do with like the angles that people took, you know,

photographers took and obviously people want to get clicks and everything. So they'll try to pick

really unflattering things and make controversial statements and then it generates, you know,

revenue, right? So, you know, when you go and you can kind of see it up in person and see what it

can do and, you know, the changes that they've made for the, for the better, you know, it's,

it's a super capable vehicle and straight from the factory. And plus, you know, I get jealous

every time I drive one because it has the turbo and my car is extraordinarily slow in comparison.

Yeah. So it's got a lot of pickup. At least you have the 2.5. I've got the two points slow.

Yeah. I mean, I really can't complain. I guess if you compare the two, I'm running like second

mode, like on the highway all the time. Especially when I'm accelerating, when I have like, you know,

full camping equipment and stuff on the roof, I'm like, I need to go faster because everybody

behind me on this on ramp is just going to be tailgating me until I get onto the highway.

Yeah. I know. It's like with mine, thankfully, being a manual, I have a little bit more control of

my, you know, acceleration and stuff. But even then, it's like, I get people behind me that are

just wanting to go really fast. And I'm just like, dude, calm down. I can't go any faster. And even

if I could, there's a lot of other cars around. So where are you really going to go anyway?

Exactly. You're going to get there. We're going to get there. And plus, I didn't buy this to go

fast anyway. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I think it's, I mean, you know, when you look at the car scene,

obviously, you know, there's a lot of different spaces that you can gravitate towards or be a

part of. But what it comes from to like the off-roading, overlanding, you know, community,

I think like, in some ways, it's a lot more fun than just having a fast car. And I like fast cars.

Yeah. Don't get me wrong. I agree. You know, I think like, you know, owning a Subaru and

being a part of this is, you know, opened up a lot of, you know, opportunities, you know,

to kind of go to places where you wouldn't normally go to and like a Civic or a Corolla.

Yeah. Because I mean, with a fast car, you can go fast, you know, on pretty much any flat surface.

And of course, it's fun driving a fast car. Feeling that acceleration is just, I mean,

that's the best part of it is feeling the acceleration. And then if it's a sports car,

and it's a manual, that's even better. But having a car that can take you off-road,

it can just take you to so many more places, you know, you can be driving by the wilderness

in a street car, but you can actually go into the wilderness with an off-road car and see what's

up in there. And I think there's, you know, a lot to be said about that. And, you know, of course,

not talking anything bad about the people that have no interest in it. Oh, absolutely not.

Because I mean- You have tons of friends at the opposite end of the spectrum.

Yeah. I mean, I would love to have like, you know, a WRX or even just even a BRZ. A BRZ

isn't turbocharged, but they're still sporty and fun and fast. Oh, and fun to drive.

Oh, yeah. They're really cool. And you were saying that like, you could kind of go into

the wilderness. The funny thing is because I grew up in Jersey and my summer is growing up,

I went down the shore a lot. So for people who are familiar with the area, Kate May,

Wildwood, places like that, my dad would always drive through where we go out frequently all

the time. So we drove through the Pine Marins. Literally, when you're driving down, you look

like every eighth to quarter of a mile, there's a trail, like a road that you can just drive down.

And I remember driving down there when I was younger and I was like, oh, like,

I wish you could just make a right. And he's like, well, I'm driving like a V6 to court. I

can't really do that. Yeah. But seeing like that, you know, as you're growing up and then

physically driving down those roads that you wanted to explore when you were younger is just,

I think that's really cool. You know, yeah, yeah, I when so we have a family reunion up in

East Texas, and there's like county roads and stuff. And I had a Kia Forte hatchback before I

had this car. And I was going up one of the county roads, which is just like a gravel road.

But then all of a sudden, the road was like, had like a divot in it. And it was like uneven and

all this stuff. And I'm like, man, if I had a cross track, I could make it through that.

Like that was back when I knew that I wanted a cross track next. Yeah. And I'm just like,

oh man, this sucks, you know, and I, I went back up there and I don't that was one of those things

because like whenever we would go up there, I would just drive around just to explore to see

what was around. And so I don't really remember where that road is. Because whenever I got my

cross track, and I went back up there again, I tried to find that road. And I'm like, man,

I don't even remember where I was because I was, it was just one of those things where I was just

driving around just to see what was around. And, but I have been up to that area since then. And

when I first got it and found some spots that were off road ish and fun. So that was cool.

That's cool. And kind of go back and revisit it. Yeah. So when you went to Boxer Fest,

how many have you been to Boxer Fest the past two years since you've had your car?

No, I couldn't make it the year prior, unfortunately. I knew a lot of people that went.

But this year, you know, I entered the show so I can, I don't expect to win anything. I think it

was just to get out there and park next to people that I associate with. To meet people, you know,

which was, which was really nice. So we were in the show, we had like, you know, a little like

overlanding section, I guess. But yeah, it was a lot of fun. You know, it was hot. Yeah. I didn't

think it was going to be as hot as it was. But you know, summers on the East Coast, you have like

Indian summer basically that just, it just keeps going. Yeah. You know, and right now in the winter

time, we're going to, we're like, I don't know, you get like, you have winter, then you have like

fall, spring, and then you have like second winter again. So I don't know if it'll be a blizzard

in two weeks or not. So, but overall it was great. You know, everybody was super nice.

I met a lot of people for the first time at Corey there. I met Shane for the first time. Oh, yeah.

I peed that way. And we were talking for a bit. Super nice guy. You know, I met Nina for the first

time out there in Tobin. Oh, yeah, yeah. And yeah, and then she came out, you know, this past weekend

too, which was pretty cool. Yeah. And then you had familiar faces. Ron was there. And then,

you know, Scott and Ilya, who are part of Off-Road Rouge, they came out too. And yeah, there are

a lot of people I met for the first time. I met Ken for the first time. Saw his ascent,

which was on display, which is really cool. So people that you've been talking to for a while.

Yeah. Yeah. And that's what's really cool about Wicked Big Meat, Boxer Fest, you know,

and all the Subifest events is, you know, especially if you are coming into the community

and then, or if you buy a Subaru, you find out about the community, and then you go to one of

the events for the first time since you bought your car, then you get a chance to like meet all

these people that you've been chatting with. And that's really cool. Yeah. And even people who

don't have like car accounts, but like they follow you because they have a similar car that they

daily drive and they have asked you questions or looked to you for inspiration. I've had people

just come up and be like, Hey, I follow you. Like just like what you were saying, like a little while

ago. Yeah. And they're like, Oh, like, you know, I'm like, Oh, that's awesome. Like I messaged you,

like, you know, six months ago and you answered all my questions. And you know, that's really cool.

You know, I think that's the best part is just the community in general. You know,

obviously the cars are awesome, but the drivers and the people behind them are,

you know, that that's the real jam. Yeah. Yeah. And then you mentioned, you know,

answering all your questions. And I think that's like something that's really important and really

cool too. And genuine about the community is you have somebody that has a new account,

you know, because they decided to be crazy and start a car account like us. And then they start

seeing stuff and they're like, Oh, I see all these cool modifications, but I have no idea what I'm

doing. And then they start reaching out to people sometimes hesitantly, like, I don't,

this car, like this person has a big account, their car is like really modified. And there's

no way they're going to answer my question and answer me back. And then, and then you do, and

then they get surprised. And then they're like, Oh, this is really cool. And then you start to

realize that like, Oh, I can actually message these people and they're going to answer me back

and help me out in this journey. And then then you get sucked in. And then that's that. And then

it's awesome. Yeah, common knowledge to people when they get to a certain point, obviously,

it's like, you know, to you, it just like, Oh, it's just something that I normally talk about.

But to somebody else who it's almost foreign to it's like, it's super impactful, which is nice.

Yeah. And then, you know, people are intimidated by potentially doing their own mods. And then

next thing you know, it's like a year later, a year and a half, two years. And you're like,

doing stuff that you never thought that you would have done, like I would have never thought that

I would have the courage to change out my own axles. I'm like, that's not something I could do.

That's all that's like Milton and all these other people that are like changing, you know,

stuff out on their car on the trail. And I'm like, that's just insane. There's no way I could ever

do that. And then like, you know, now my lower control arm bushing is like, I wouldn't have even

known what that was before. But you know, it's getting pretty worn out. And at some point,

I'm just probably going to replace the whole lower control arm just to get the both, you know,

the both the bushings. And, you know, and I want to do that myself, because I know that I can,

I've seen how it's done. But like, I would have never thought that I would be able to actually

do that. And then, and then it's one of those things too, where it's like, I know I can do that.

I don't have to go spend the money taking it to a shop. And I want to do that. Like I want to be

able to do it myself. Because it's fun. It takes time, but it's fun. Yeah. Well, that's with like

all my mods, like in some of the stuff that I didn't, you know, wasn't 100% sure, like with the

lights and everything, Joe came and helped me out. And then even with the rock sliders, Dave,

shout out Dave again, he came out and help me do that and then film the video for CA tuned.

And everybody's willing to do that, you know, which is the great thing about the community.

I don't think anybody should be hesitant to ask. Yeah, absolutely. I don't think so. Yeah.

Yeah. And you're always going to get help from somewhere. And then, and then like if you don't

know the answer, like if somebody asks a question, it's like, because I've had a lot of people ask

me questions about like live kits and, you know, and other things. And I don't really know. So then

you can always refer them to somebody else and be like, this person I know did this type, did

these types of mods on their car and they've done it a few times and they've helped other people.

So I don't know the answer, but this person probably does. And that's what's great too,

is you could pass them along to somebody that can help them. Absolutely. Honestly, like,

if I don't know something, I normally just like text Rob, because he's a wealth of knowledge.

And I don't know, it's like a never ending library. The guy knows everything about everything,

you know? Yeah, you've talked to him too about stuff. It's like his knowledge is just like

unlimited, which is crazy. Yeah, because if it hadn't been for him, I wouldn't have known

that it was my viscous coupling that was going bad, you know? I told him what was going on.

I explained it to him. And then he sent me a video of his outback doing the same thing.

And then he was like, this is what it is. This is where it is. This is what needs to be done.

And I was like, oh, cool. And then he even sent me a link to like an online Subaru shop and said,

hey, tell him that Rob, you know, sent you. And it was just, you know, so now all that's good.

And now I can help somebody else. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, now it's crazy. He's like,

he's done a lot for the community. So, you know, shout out him again, you know, what he's done

with the group too. And over years and years and years, you know, with the charity events,

like, you know, 48 hours of tri-state, make a wish like the hundreds of thousands of dollars that,

you know, that have been made for donations is incredible. Yeah. That's the community though,

right? Yeah. Yeah. That's a fun event too. Yeah, I couldn't make it this year either,

unfortunately. And it was in Pennsylvania. So, I told myself I'm going to go next year, you know.

There you go. I'd like to go to all the events. I'm sure like you would too, but sometimes it just,

this is not possible, unfortunately, unless I, you know, quit my job and did Subaru stuff for

the rest of my life, which would be fun, honestly. Oh, yeah. Not the easiest thing to do though.

Yeah. So, you talked earlier, I think we were talking about it offline, but you said that you

talked to Phil all the time from Max Tracks Micro Crew. How did you find out about that?

So, when I made my account and then people started like following me after like you shouted it out,

and then I guess it becomes like recommended on like the front page. I saw like a recommended page

for his and I was like, this is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. Like, it's a giant, like,

it's a giant meme. Like, do these people even like off-road or they just buy these,

you know, RC, you know, Max Tracks forage and just put it on their car. But I did it. And then,

like, that's actually, so if you want to talk about first mod, like if you want some Laura,

that could be the quote-unquote first mod I did was buying a set of those off of eBay

and zip tying them to the side of my, the rails on my car. Yeah, there you go.

Yeah, I have mine in here. I need to go take them out to my car again, but I keep forgetting

they're in here. So, I messaged him with the picture and then, you know, I started tagging him

in all my posts and stuff. And, you know, people watch my posts. Obviously, I'm a,

I'm a big music person. Music's a huge part of my life. I try to go to, you know, 20 to 40 shows

like every year. I'm always doing. I've always done it since I was a kid. I'm still doing it. So,

and I post like stuff on that heavier end of the spectrum. I know we talked a little,

I listen to like a lot of hardcore music, grew up with like stuff like that, like

pop punk. I like indie rock. But I like going to hardcore shows, which are basically like

small little venues. You can stage dive. You can do questionable things without security and

stuff like that. And I'm getting old. So, I'm like 35 now. So, I have to pick my

house. Oh, you're so old. But I'll jump off the stage once in a while and stuff like that. But,

you know, we kind of bonded over music. And then after that, we would just send, I would send

recommendations and stuff, new stuff. And, you know, it turns out that he liked a lot of the

music that I listened to. And then we started sending like, you know, music memes and stupid

stuff like that. And then we just talked about, you know, life and things like that, like, you

know, what we do, you know, what are, you know, you know, aspirations are, you know, more in-depth

stuff like that. And yeah, I actually, I text him now. He has my phone number. So, we shoot it

once in a while. Yeah, he's a good dude. A super solid dude. I know he was on here.

Yeah, he is. Yeah, it was fun having him on.

Phil, if you're listening, I'm going to tell you for the thousandth time to move back to the east

coast. Because he's in Texas, right? You have to come back here. Yeah. Yeah, I know. We've actually

talked about potentially meeting up. And I just, I've totally forgot about that. So, I'm glad that

we brought it up. I always send him like, shows in my area of like bands that he listens to and

stuff. And he always hates on me because he can't go. Yeah. And then I'll tell him to move here and

he's like, ah, I don't know. I don't know if I can move back. But you have a lot of friends here,

you know, a lot of the crew member like, you know, he knows Jim and all of them too. So,

yeah, you know, a lot of crew members out here. And then he's like, oh, you should move out west.

And I'm like, but you don't have good venues. And he's like, well, you're right. So, I'm not

going there. You better come here. Yeah. Yeah. But he's a, he's a good guy. It's a fun page,

you know, it's not super serious. Good people are part of it. You know, it's kind of a funny

inside joke. When I was out this week and a lot of the people who aren't like a part of this

community, like we're looking at it and they're like, I just noticed those little traction boards

like, what are those for? I'm like, oh, it's kind of like an inside joke. It's a really stupid inside

show. Yeah. If you get it, you get it. Yeah, you get it. You get it. So, yeah, shout out Phil. Good

dude. Probably meet in person one day. So yeah, just like we were talking about before, like,

yeah, man, if you ever fly out here, you too, like I'll pick you up from the airport or whatever.

So you drive my car. Nice. Yeah, I've never driven a Cross Trek wilderness. Who knows,

it could be the first one. Yeah. I want to come out east, you know, you're always welcome.

So how would you say that your Cross Trek best matches your personality?

I'm a pretty outgoing and like adventurous person. I like doing stuff, you know, I don't like sitting

still. So, you know, the car allows me to basically do those things, right? So if I want to go hiking

or camping off like, you know, outside of like a normal area, I can just hop in and do it.

Yeah, definitely helps to align with your lifestyle.

Absolutely.

If you could describe your Cross Trek in one word, what would it be?

I would say reliable at this point. Knock on wood. I didn't jinx that.

Yeah, it's never let me down. You know, I've done a lot of fun stuff, you know,

nothing has totally broken yet to the point where I can't drive it.

Yeah. So I guess that's always a good thing. You know, Subaru makes a really good product

and I've been really happy with it so far and hopefully just keeps on trucking, you know?

Yeah. Or trekking.

Trekking, yeah, keep on trekking. I really botched that.

That's okay. I saved you.

How has owning your Subaru changed your life?

I think, like I said, I'm a pretty outgoing person. I like doing stuff, you know, I have a lot of,

you know, close friends that, you know, we have a lot of things in common, not necessarily everything,

but in the Subaru community, you know, just by having a car and the, you know, the type of people

that gravitate towards the brand, I guess, you know, really just opened a lot of doors into

meeting a lot of my now pretty good friends, I would say at this point. So the community in

in general, I think, you know, yeah, I think that's it.

Yeah. You think you'll always own a Subaru?

I think so. I might have a second car that's not a Subaru, but I think there will always be a

Subaru in the in the garage or in the driveway or wherever. Yeah, I do.

Yeah, same here. I think so too.

Yeah. I think I picked a good one.

Yeah. I mean, again, it's I think so many people who are interested in it and find it and are able

to connect with the community, find out they're like, they did, they bought more than just a car,

you know, they bought into something so much bigger that they didn't even know existed.

It's like a cult without being in a cult, you know?

Yeah. Yeah. Before we get into this last segment, is there anything else you want to say about

your car or your journey or, you know, the groups or anything?

No, I think it's just been, listen, I'm here for the ride just like hopping on this thing.

I'm just going with it, you know?

Like you said, I think it opened up a lot of doors and, you know, the community is great.

Anybody who I didn't shout out here, you know, sorry I missed you, but there are dozens and

dozens of people that I've met, you know, that are on Instagram or, you know, on the groups online.

Yeah. So it's been a great experience.

Yeah. And it's hard to keep up with everybody.

Yeah, it really is. And then like the handles too. It's like, well, is this the person

who's hanging with this handle? Yeah, I know.

I get it. Yeah, it's been cool. And then I think the coolest part too is just like

when you're out of state, like when we went out to Utah and Colorado, like

we met the two Benjamins who both have outbacks, one of them is BMC Adventures,

the other one's PC Blue Baru 3.6. They came out to Ofer Pass. They camped.

Awesome dudes. And, you know, really cool builds, give them a follow. Super nice people.

Definitely want to go back out there sometime. I think

one of them is moving to Oregon soon. So it gives me an excuse to like go out there and see stuff

and then meet everybody else that's out there. Yeah. And then Ken, who's the Fat Cow Chronicles,

he came out to us and spent a couple of days with us in Utah with his

Cross Shrek. So that was really cool. Really nice guy. Super nice guy.

Nice. Yeah. But yeah, you know, the community, that's it. I think the community is the biggest

thing. Like the car is like, it's just like, I don't want to say no pun intended. It's a

vehicle to get you there, you know? And then the rest is just, it's just right there. It's right

in front of you. And, you know, everybody here, at least that I've met and, you know, people like

yourself are always willing to take, you know, new people in and kind of show them the ropes and

help them kind of get where they want to be and have fun, you know? Yeah. Which is what matters

the most. Yep. Yeah. We're all doing it together. Absolutely. So in this last segment, we get to

know you a little bit better, but who is Brandon as in describe yourself?

I don't know. Like I said, I'm a pretty outgoing, adventurous person. Outside of car stuff,

I'm a huge music person like I talked to about earlier. So whenever I'm not doing the outdoor

stuff, I'm trying to go to shows or, you know, doing things like that. I've worked in the medical

field for, this is 11 years now. Yeah, I'm a PA with a, you know, background orthopedic surgery,

sports medicine, physical medicine, rehab, pain management, rheumatology. So a lot. I've done

a lot over the years. Yeah. It's a very, very fulfilling job. I've treated like thousands

of people, you know, really like it. Like I said, if I like medicine a lot, if I had the

opportunity to do this stuff full time, I would maybe do that like one or two days a week, or

maybe be like a traveling provider. Yeah. You know? Yeah. But yeah, I've done that for a long time

now. So yeah, you know, oh, I also, I'm a big Lego dude. So that's gonna get me like

assassinated on here or something. So I've been like, I've been building like Lego sets since I

was younger. I think Sean, Jamie, the Sueby, same thing. Yeah. So even through adult life,

I buy like all the adult sets, I don't have any room to put it. So I have like a giant backlog

in a closet right now. But I've always found that stuff on, you know, big movie guy, you know,

sci-fi stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah, you know, I'm a diecast dude too. So I like, I like diecast cars.

Yeah, I think a lot of us do whether we will admit it or not. So yeah, shout out to hot rod

Christina. She, she works for the Mattel design team and does the graphic design work for them.

She did the Subaru Crosstrek that came out this year. Very nice. Which is modeled off of her

actual Crosstrek that has gold wheels and is kind of built out. So shout out to her. I sent her a

picture of a brat that I took out in Utah. And she, it was like on a rock, just like a postcard

picture with the car. And she passed it all along to the designer of the car at Hot Wheels.

So that was really cool. That is, that's awesome. That is super cool. Yeah. Just make a Crosstrek

wilderness, please. That's all I ask. Hot Wheels or Matchbox, please make one. I think a lot of us

in the community would like one. Yeah. Yeah, that's cool. I'm going to give her a follow. That's

super cool. Thank you. Yeah. But yeah, that's pretty much me, unless you have any other specific

questions about me in general. No, no, it's good. What was a favorite memory from your childhood?

Oh, that's tough. Probably, probably anything outdoors. Camping with my family. We used to go

to Lake George a lot. I've been to Connecticut. All those camping adventures, just getting out,

it's not really unplugging back then because I had to dial up internet.

And we had blockbusters and a Discman. If people who are younger probably don't know

what any of that stuff is. I had to use a rewinder on the VCR. Yeah. Please be kind and rewind.

Yes, exactly. So yeah, probably all the outdoor stuff, going to National Parks with my family.

It's like a cluster of memories, I would say. Yeah, no, that's good. So you said what you do

for a living and you said that if you could do this and that part-time, but have you had a dream

job outside of those two things? I don't think so. I like medicine a lot. This

particular position gives me a lot of flexibility to enjoy my career, but pursue lots of hobbies

like this. So it's a good balance. It's a good life balance. It's important. Yeah, 100%. So no,

I think that that would be it. If I would do that and if I couldn't do that or I could do that part

more time and do literary camp and do stuff like that for the rest of my life or maybe run events

or something, that would be I guess a dream job, probably for a lot of us to be honest.

What is something that makes you want to get out of bed every day?

Like I said, I've been in medicine, so I really like helping people. So just getting up every day,

knowing that you get a potentially impact people's lives and make a difference is

something that I enjoy doing and every day you wake up and there's some new challenges,

new patients at work, things to figure out. So I think that would be it.

What's something that makes you want to stay in bed?

Honestly, nothing. Maybe like doing my taxes or something. If I'm sick obviously and I don't

use to say like if there was a snowstorm, but now like if there's a snowstorm, I want to be out

on my car. Yeah, you can get out and have fun in it. Yeah, yeah. I don't like going to

doctor's appointments either, even though I'm a medical provider, I don't like doing that.

So it's part of me is like we're always the worst patients, you know? Oh, it's funny.

No, probably that. But other than that, no, there's nothing that, you know, nothing crazy.

Yeah. What is something that really scares you?

I don't know. I guess

it's like uncertainty just in general with the whole world and what the future is going to be like

just in general terms. It's like what's going to happen tomorrow? Just generally speaking,

you know? But, you know, I try not to worry about stuff like that and you just got to live your

life and do what you like to do and keep doing it. Yeah, because things are changing so quickly

lately because like, you know, 20, 30 years ago, it's like everything just seemed kind of chill,

you know, for a while. But it's even like, even like with technology, you know, it changes so

quickly that it's like, you know, well, what's coming out next? Like I just bought this and

they already have another one. So it's kind of hard to keep up with stuff. Yeah, you know, I like

simpler things. I don't like, like I said, like Facebook and stuff when I deactivate in my account

and, you know, obviously with Instagram, it's a little bit different. It's a car profile. But,

you know, I knew as well didn't grow up in an age of like social media. You know, I made a Facebook

when I was in high school, you know, between the years of like 2000, what,

four to 2008 or something like that. Yeah. You know, we got dial up internet, like I want to

blockbuster. Yeah, you know, got out with all my friends. Yeah, growing up. So I kind of missed

those simpler times, you know. Yeah, me too. Granted, I'd have to go back and get a different

Sue B, I guess, and do something with that to be a very different scene. But, you know,

sometimes, you know, it makes you wonder how it would be if things remained like simpler. But

now everything is just growing so exponentially, especially with technology that it's almost

hard to keep up. And, you know, you want to just take a step back. Yeah, no, absolutely. Yeah.

So besides your Subaru, what is something else that like really excites you?

I don't know, like just going to new places, you know, I'm trying to hit all the national parks.

So every time I go to something that I've never experienced before, I think it's really exciting

to, you know, the opportunity to explore, to kind of check stuff out the same thing with like

historical landmarks and, you know, going out of the country, obviously, and exploring different

countries and seeing different places. I think that's super exciting. And, you know,

just in general, just like anything that, you know, interests you or you're taking

an interest to and then you're learning about stuff, I think that's just exciting in general,

you know, like buying a car and then learning like how to do maintenance on it or put modifications

on it. And, you know, like when I bought mine, I think I think something just as simple as that,

you know? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. What would be your best bit of advice to give to someone about

anything? You know, what I've kind of grown to, you know, view things as I've gotten older is,

you know, everybody gets older, nobody gets younger, right? So, you know, life is a huge

rollercoaster. It's not the longest rollercoaster, unfortunately. So, you know, you got to make

the most of it. If you want to do something, you want to go on that trip, you want to fly out of

the country, you want to take a risk and, you know, pursue a new field or, you know, change it up

from a job perspective, you want to move somewhere, just do it, you know? It might be easier said than

done, obviously, for certain things. But, you know, if you want to do something, I just do it

life's too short. Yeah, I agree. Go meet people in the Subaru community that you think might be a

bunch of weirdos, you know? Go do it, you know? Just do it. Yeah. And time on this earth really

isn't super long, you know, even in the grand scheme of things. So, just do what makes you happy.

And even if it's little things, because sometimes there's situations that I find myself in where

it's like, I want to go do something a particular day, like I want to go do this this afternoon,

whatever it may be. Yeah. And then I'm like, but I've got these other things that I should probably

do instead. And then, like, you know, and then I don't go do it. And I'm like, I should have just

gone and done it. Like, in the grand scheme of like this whole week or whatever, what would that

amount of time have mattered? Like, I would have enjoyed myself. And instead of going and doing it,

I decided like, oh, I have these other things that I have to do. And I'm like, but you could do

them tomorrow, you don't have to do them right now. Yeah. You could have gone and done that thing.

So it could be little things too, you know, just every day, little decisions in your routine.

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, that's always my word of advice. Maybe if I was like,

you know, 15 years younger or something, it'd be a little bit different. But at this point in my

life, I think that's it, you know. Yeah. Yep. Thank you for taking the time to hop on the mic and

share your journey and stuff about your Subaru and what Offroad Roo's is doing and more about

yourself. It's been cool to again, like see you through Zoom, you know, hopefully we'll get a chance

to meet in person at some point. Absolutely. I appreciate it. It's been a pleasure. You know,

shout out to this community. You guys are awesome. And like you just said, I hope to meet more of

you as time goes on in the coming year going forward. Yeah, that'd be great. Yeah. Cool, man.

We have a good night and we'll keep in touch. Thanks, man. You too. All right. You too.

And there we have successfully gotten through another episode of the Subin New Podcast.

Thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much, Brandon, for taking the time to record

with me and share your Subaru journey and talk about your Subaru Crosstrek, of course, also

Offroad Roo's. So if you're not doing so, go give him a follow. It's cladosaurus trex. And I had to

make sure and say that correctly. Also, go give Offroad Roo's a follow. So that is what he has

been involved with lately. And they're doing a lot of really good work out there. So

go be sure to give them both a follow. And again, thank you so much for listening to the episode.

Be sure to keep tuning in and be sure to share. I really appreciate it. And we will see you next

Monday for another Subi Scoop and then in a couple of weeks for another regular guest episode.

I hope you all have a wonderful week. And we'll talk to you later. Much Subi love. Raph.

The Subi New Podcast is hosted by Raphael in a closet in Houston, produced by Raphael in a room

next to the closet in Houston, and edited by Raphael on a computer in the room next to the

closet in Houston, with music by Luke Ruiz in another room in Houston. You can find the Subi

New Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcast, Spotify, and many more.

To support the podcast, please head over to Patreon.com

slash Subi New Podcast. Once you join, you will have access to the Discord channel

and Discord chats with other patrons. If you'd like to get in contact with the show,

you can find them on Instagram at Subi New Podcast, online at SubiNewPodcast.com,

or by email, SubiNewPodcast, at gmail.com. That's all for this week.

S&YE223 - Cladasaurus Trex

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