Subie & YOU! Mar 16, 2026

S&YE224 - Olive the Other Outback

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Car

Subaru Outback

The Subaru Outback is a type of car that is good for driving on different kinds of roads, including rough or slippery ones, because it has a special system that powers all the wheels.

Concept

Subaru meetup

A Subaru meetup is a get-together where people who own Subaru cars meet to talk and see each other's cars.

Company

Gilman dealership

Gilman dealership is a place where people can buy cars from different brands and sometimes they have events for car fans.

Concept

car show

A car show is a place where people bring their cars to show them to others who like cars.

Concept

caravan

A caravan is when a bunch of cars drive together to the same place.

Term

all wheel drive

All-wheel drive means the car sends power to all four wheels instead of just two. This helps the car drive better on slippery roads like snow or ice.

Term

tailgate

The tailgate is the back door of a car that opens to let you put things in the back.

Term

rear bumper

The rear bumper is the part at the back of a car that helps protect it if another car bumps into it.

Term

hatchback

A hatchback is a type of car where the back door opens up to let you put things inside easily.

Term

airbags

Airbags are cushions inside the car that pop out when there is a crash to keep people safe.

Part

roof basket

A roof basket is like a big basket on top of a car where you can put extra stuff when you don't have enough room inside. It's useful for trips or carrying big things.

Concept

modding

Modding means changing or adding things to a car to make it look cooler or work better. People do this to make their car special or fit their needs.

Concept

Subaru community

The Subaru community is a group of people who like Subaru cars and talk to each other about them. They share tips and stories about their cars and sometimes meet up.

Concept

car meet

A car meet is when people who like cars get together to look at each other's cars and talk about them.

Concept

off-road Subaru

Off-road Subarus are cars made to drive on rough, bumpy roads or dirt paths, not just smooth streets.

Term

mods

Mods are changes people make to their cars to make them faster, look cooler, or work better.

Term

miles

Miles tell you how far a car has been driven. The more miles, the more the car has been used, which can mean it might need more repairs.

Part

wheels and tires

Wheels are the round metal parts that the tires go on, and tires are the rubber parts that touch the road. Changing them can help the car drive better or look nicer.

Part

ditch lights

Ditch lights are extra lights on a car that help you see better on the sides of the road, especially when driving in the dark or off-road.

Part

engine skid plate

An engine skid plate is like a shield that protects the bottom of your car's engine from getting hurt when you drive over rough or rocky ground.

Concept

off-road driving

Off-road driving means driving a car on rough surfaces like dirt or mud instead of smooth roads. It can be fun but needs a car that can handle bumps and slippery ground.

Concept

mud driving

Mud driving means driving a car through wet, soft dirt that can be slippery and sticky. Cars that can do this well usually have special features to help them not get stuck.

Concept

driving in snow

Driving in snow means using a car on snowy roads, which can be slippery. Cars that can do this well usually have special systems to keep them from sliding or getting stuck.

Part

alloy wheels

Alloy wheels are special car wheels made from light metals that help the car drive better and look nicer.

Term

suspension

Suspension is the part of the car that helps it ride smoothly over bumps and keeps the wheels touching the road.

Part

OEM shocks and struts

OEM shocks and struts are the original parts that help the car stay smooth when driving over bumps. They come from the company that made the car.

Part

coilover

A coilover is a car part that helps the car ride smoothly and lets you change how high or low the car sits. It combines two parts into one to make the car handle better.

Term

brakes

Brakes are what you use to make your car stop or slow down safely.

Part

belt tensioner

The belt tensioner keeps the belt tight so it can turn parts of the engine without slipping or coming off.

Term

all-season tire

All-season tires are regular tires that work okay in many kinds of weather like rain or light snow, but they might not be the best if the weather is very bad.

LIVE

Hello, this is Andrew and you can find me on Instagram at all of the other Outback.

You are listening to episode 224 of the SubiDew podcast.

But that totaled out the car and my wife was like, you're not getting anything besides

another Subaru.

Hey, doesn't that sound familiar?

So yeah, we will get into more of that conversation in this episode.

But welcome back to another episode of the SubiDew podcast.

Thank you so much, Andrew, for taking the time to record with me and share your

Subaru journey and talk about your Subaru and other things Subaru related

and Subaru community related.

Hope everybody had a great weekend and hope you all have a good week too.

I actually went to a Subaru meetup over the weekend.

It was on Saturday.

There was a Gilman dealership in North Houston, and it was a conglomeration

of like three different Gilman brands that came together for a big car show.

And what's pretty cool is the group that's out in like the West Texas area,

Austin, San Antonio, Lone Star, Subis.

A lot of them drove all the way out here to Houston to attend this event.

And they all met up at Bucky's in Katie, which is where I live.

So I met them there and got to meet some new people, got to see some people

again that I hadn't seen.

And then we all caravaned and went from there to the event and hung out

there for a while and just kind of was looking at each other's cars

and checking out the event.

And then after that, we met up with Space City Subis at this Green Goes,

which is a Mexican restaurant up the road and hung out there for a while.

Had lunch and then me and Roman, who goes by Go Subi Adventures and Stacey,

who goes by that spicy STI and Jonathan, who goes by Subimoo,

although he was driving Evie's Cross Trek.

All four of us went to the spot in downtown that makes for pretty good photos.

And it was there was some really good mud puddles.

So me and Roman, we had to go through and drive through the mud puddles.

And Pearl is very muddy and Roman's ghost is very muddy as well.

But I know that I think Jonathan just didn't want to get Evie's Cross Trek

too muddy, but he just took some photos.

And then after that, Jonathan had to go back and pick Evie up.

So it was just me, Roman and Stacey.

And we went to Catalina Coffee in down or near downtown, but it's in town

and had some coffee there.

And then they went back home and then I continued to drive around and just

enjoyed the day. It was a really nice Saturday outside.

I was like absolutely beautiful.

So I ended up going downtown and just walking around for a little bit

and then drove back home and enjoy the rest of the day.

So I hope you all had a good weekend, too.

Before we get into this conversation, we will hear from one of our sponsors.

The Subi and you podcast is brought to you by a centric designs.

For those of you who don't know, a centric 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 fender stripes and stickers

to find designs for your subi head on over to a centricdesigns.com.

There's always more projects in the works, so be sure to follow at a centric.designs on Instagram.

Thank you so much, eccentric designs, for sponsoring the Subi and you podcast.

Be sure to go check out her website, check out her Instagram page.

And she also has an Etsy page.

So go check those out, get some decals for your car.

If you're looking for a good way to personalize your vehicle without spending too much money.

The Subi and you podcast is, of course, also brought to you by Subaru gear.

Be sure to go check out Subaru gear.com.

I've been posting some more content lately about Subaru gear and I'm going to continue to do so.

But I have something that I am going to show tomorrow that is really cool, that I'm very proud of.

And I will.

It's of course found at Subaru gear.com.

But yeah, go go check them out.

They have so many great items there that you can purchase and help to represent your favorite car brand.

In one of my videos, mostly recently, I said to go check out the sale portion in the website.

There's a little button that says sale.

Go check that out because those are items that are going to be leaving.

So if you find something that you really like, go get it now.

But what's great, too, is it's already on sale, plus you get an additional 20% off.

And then if you fill up your card and your total is over $50 after the 20% discount, you're going to automatically get free shipping.

So please make sure that you utilize that benefit of getting free shipping because that is such a big help.

And I'm very grateful and thankful for Subaru gear offering that free shipping when your total is over $50 because that's pretty big.

So thank you so much Subaru gear for sponsoring the Subi and you podcast.

And thank you for bringing this discount to our listeners because I know that they appreciate it and I very much appreciate it.

So thank you.

Another announcement I need to make is be sure to go check out the dirt Subi's podcast that is hosted by my buddy, Ben.

He has been doing some really good episodes over there every other week, just like me.

And he's had some really great guests.

So be sure to go check out the dirt Subi's podcast where ever you listen to podcasts, he also has it in YouTube format.

So go check it out.

And so cool to see somebody else out there doing another podcast and he and I have become really good friends because of it.

So go check it out.

And lastly, before we get into this episode, it's also brought to you by Melee design firm where you can go and check out the website and save 10% almost site wide on a lot of great products for your Subaru.

Be sure to use the code SUBI and you to get that 10% off at Melee design firm.com.

So let's get into this episode now.

Hey, how's it going, Andrew?

Hey, good.

Glad to be here.

Yeah, glad to have you on.

Do do people call you Andrew or is that what you prefer?

Does anybody ever call you Drew?

It's pretty much always Andrew.

Okay, always has been.

So yeah, that's good to know.

So I'll just go ahead and start it off with the most important question, whether you prefer waffles or pancakes.

I've been thinking about this one.

Yeah.

So I'll say pancakes, but with a little caveat of I'm gluten free.

Okay.

So I've just been able to perfect and find more success with gluten free pancakes than the gluten free waffles.

That seems to be a little more hit or miss.

But yeah, so pancakes.

Yeah, pancakes are good.

I, so I have a Belgian waffle maker that my daughter got for me, but the problem I have with those is like, it's hard to clean the plates off.

And so like, I've got to find a good way to get the plates cleaned off because I really do want to use it again because I do like waffles.

I like the crunchiness of them, but pancakes, I don't know.

I think it's just like the fluffiness of the pancakes for me does a little bit more.

Yeah.

And I also, I don't know, I'm like about like efficiency.

So spreading the butter on like, it's great that everything gets stuck in those little cracks on the waffles.

But I just like a smooth, like you take the knife, you spread the butter.

We're good to go.

Yeah, it's hard to get it in all the little pockets.

And you end up with like, would you like a waffle with your butter?

Right.

Yeah.

So with your outback, is this your first Subaru?

No, this is not.

So I, this is my second Subaru and my second outback.

Oh, nice.

So like, what was your first outback and like, when did you get it?

And when did you get this one?

Yeah.

So I got my first outback in 2020.

And like, yeah, I think round summer of 2020.

Okay.

And that was a 2014 outback.

Oh, nice.

And yeah, that was great.

We had that for two years at that time.

I didn't know anything about Subaru or outbacks really.

I just needed a reliable fuel efficient car and something that could fit the family.

So that's how we settled on that without too much.

So like, yeah.

So I guess with that, when it wasn't really like, oh, I really want a Subaru.

It was just like you said, just fuel efficient and, you know, a family car.

Yeah, we had a car that kind of suddenly died.

So we needed to replace it and it was, we found a good deal on this outback.

So I was like, all right, that's the way to go.

Let's try it out.

Was there anything about the outback, like as far as other than being fuel

efficient and being like a family car, what else like drew you to the outback?

The all wheel drive, because that was really my first car that I owned that

had all wheel drive.

And this, you know, in Michigan getting a few, never really got stuck in the

other vehicles, but times where you felt less sure, sliding, slipping, spinning

out at the stop sign, you're like, I wish I had a little more to get up and go.

And yeah, yeah, the all wheel drive is definitely nice because then you've

got everything working together as opposed to just two wheels.

Yeah.

So then once I, so going to for like a front wheel or real wheel drive car to

the Subaru, then I was like, oh, this is what all wheel drive is.

Okay.

Like that was a pleasant surprise.

Yeah, it feels nice.

And I like it rains a lot here in Houston.

So I definitely feel a lot safer with all wheel drive than anything else.

Yeah.

So when did you get the outback that you have now and why did you end up going to this one?

Yeah.

So I got this one in the fall of 2022 and it was not really planned.

I had a fender bender, well, more big accident on the expressway in the original

outback, the 2014 kind of sudden stop in traffic on the expressway.

I stopped the person behind me going full speed.

They did not stop.

So Yikes hit me at like 60 miles an hour.

Oh my, were you fully stopped?

Yeah, we were fully stopped.

So we stopped and it was like a sudden stop and I turned around to my son.

I was like, you okay, bud?

And then after that was then when we got hit.

Oh man.

Um, but so then so that was in that outback and the way like it got hit.

And I thought this was so crazy just looking at the pictures, the rear impact that like

spare tire where the spare tire is, everything just folded around that.

Like I was fine.

My son was in the back seat.

He was fine.

Um, we were just shaking up a bit, but not even bruises or anything.

Oh, that's good.

The whole back of the car just absorbed that impact.

It was amazing.

Yeah.

So it did his job.

Yeah.

So then after, so, but that totaled out the car and my wife was like, you're not getting

anything besides another Subaru.

Yeah.

The whole safety factor comes into play with, I've had so many people on the podcast

that ended up getting into an accident and they're like, I have to get another Subaru.

I'm not, there's no other option.

Yeah.

Well, it would have felt silly to like that I was risking something if I went other than

Subaru, like that's what it felt after that moment.

Right?

Like, well, it's got to be a Subaru now.

Um, but that was also like when we got that particular Subaru that got totaled safety,

like the safety factors, I knew Subaru's were safe cars, but that wasn't like why we

got it, right?

Yeah.

But it ended up becoming the most important, important feature.

Yeah.

So when you got hit from behind, did it bust your back window out?

Um, no, the tailgate kind of folded in, but, um, it was more of a lower car that hit

us, so they just the bumper, the rear bumper kind of absorbed all of it.

Okay.

Yeah.

Cause that's what I was like surprised with when I got hit from behind, cause I got hit

from behind pretty hard and like the bumper took, you know, all of the, the brunt of it.

And the same with me, the hatchback, like the lower part of the hatch kind of caved

in, but the, uh, the back window didn't bust out.

And I was thankful for that cause that, that would have been bad.

But yeah, they, uh, they do a good job of keeping you safe.

Yeah.

It was one of those things like when I was in it and then got getting out of the car

and looking at it, I was like, well, that's a lot worse.

Like it, you know, the way everything crumpled cause I was like, nothing broke.

Airbags didn't go off and from.

Yeah.

Um, yeah.

The way it just kind of absorbed everything.

Yeah.

So when you got this outback, cause I'm guessing you didn't do any mods on your

first outback.

Uh, no, it had a roof basket on it, but that was it.

And that was just to be functional.

Okay.

Yeah.

So there was no like thought of modding or even like trails or anything.

So when you got this one, because obviously now this one has some modifications, like

where did, where did that come from as far as like wanting to do some mods and, you

know, go take this one a little bit further than the other one?

Did you, had you already connected with some people in the Subaru community or was

it not until after this one that you started kind of doing that?

And then how did you find people?

So yeah, I, when I had my old outback, I had no idea the Subaru community even

existed, right?

Even being a Subaru owner, right?

I just was not something that was on my radar.

Um, and then when I knew I wanted the Subaru, so I was looking for other

Subaru's to replace that one.

And, um, then once I kind of had one picked out and this outback picked out, I was

like, okay, well, I, I want to do something to make it my own.

I was like, kind of celebrate like the rebirth, the new car.

Yeah.

I was like, maybe I can get like, I think I even googled like cool mods for a

Subaru outback or just, I was like, I was like, what's even out there for a

Subaru?

I don't know.

Um, what can I do with this thing?

Yeah.

So I think like that was like my Google search.

Um, and I stumbled across through that way, eccentric designs.

Oh yeah.

That was one of my first ones too.

Yeah.

So then I was looking at that.

I was like, oh, these are just cool.

Like decals.

Like I could put some of those on.

Like that's make it my own.

Perfect.

And that was also, I believe the way that I first, or maybe it was from that

Google search, but how I discovered your podcast.

Oh, cool.

Nice.

So then, um, I'm like looking at eccentric designs.

I pull out the podcast.

I was like, well, what's the first episode?

Oh, eccentric designs.

Okay.

Like, yeah.

All right.

So then I, yeah, then.

Yeah.

Really, that's what opened up the rabbit hole of like through the podcast.

I really learned how much I could do, like that people are doing all these

crazy things with their car and different mods and that you can have fun with it and

still make it practical.

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

And that's, I mean, it's good that you found some of that on the podcast because

that's kind of been the somewhat like the, you know, I mean, I didn't really, it wasn't

intentional to make that be the purpose of the podcast being a resource for people.

I just wanted to get people on for them to have a place to tell their stories and

talk about stuff.

But I have had a lot of people say that they either found out about stuff on the

podcast to do with their cars or they decided to even buy a Subaru because of

the podcast, which is really cool.

But yeah, I like that it has become a resource and having Jen on as my first

guest was turned out to be like a really good, not on purpose, but turned out to be

a good strategic move because a lot of people knew who she was.

Yeah.

And I, yeah, I found her through her website pretty much at the same time.

I found your podcast.

Um, but yeah, so I started listening to those episodes, like I started

episode one and then worked my way to catch up and now you're on it.

Right.

I don't can't believe it.

Uh, yeah.

So like, I know, I think it's cool with it with her and being able to get some,

some decals, cause then you can personalize it without having to spend too much money.

Uh, so what was like next on the radar for doing modifications after the decals?

Like, how did you start finding about other things?

And then like what was popping up in your head of like, oh yeah, I can do that.

And that's what I want to do.

Yeah.

So I think what led from that was I just had, I think the first decals I got were

the tail light reflector, like mountain decals.

Yeah.

So put those on and then I think it was through some just like exploring like

groups on Facebook and Instagram.

Um, and then listening to the podcast that was around the time I created my

Instagram page.

So when I created the page, I think the only thing on my car were the eccentric

design decals.

Yeah.

Um, and then that's when I realized like, Oh, there's like Subaru clubs and

people that like do things with the Subaru's and then with like some digging.

I was like, Oh, and there's some of that are near me.

So yeah, that's always cool.

So who did you find like that was near you there?

Where you were able to like meet up with people.

Yeah.

Um, it was the Facebook group, third coast subis.

Okay.

Um, that Patrick's, um, a part of and one of the people that started.

Um, so that was the first group, like, uh, local Subaru group that I kind of

discovered and was like, okay.

Um, and they actually, my first, um, like car meet Subaru event I attended was

around that fall that I got my car.

Um, the Patrick hosted a fall color run.

Oh, nice.

So we just like kind of drove around went through some like covered bridges, did

a little meet up in a parking lot at the park, went to, uh, like Apple orchard

and just got some cider and some food.

Um, but it was like this big thing.

It was mostly off-road Subaru's.

Um, but a few like WRX's were there too.

And, um, I had no idea of what I was getting myself into.

I had no idea like that they were going to be cars with mods.

I didn't know what I was walking into at all.

Like when I, I just saw some people posting on Facebook, I was like, I

guess I'll go like seems like fun.

Um, and then, but yeah, so that first meet, that was kind of like, then that

opened my eyes to, oh, wow, like there's so much more.

There's so much more to the community.

There's so much more you can do to these cars.

Yeah.

Cause when you see somebody's car in person, especially if somebody's

done some heavy mods, it's like, whoa, that's kind of crazy.

Cause I know when I went up to a Subaru flat fest in 2022, I met up with Patrick

and Jen and I think like at least maybe three other cross tracks.

And I don't remember who they are, but, um, we ended up like all driving from,

cause we all met at this gas station.

We drove from there up to the motor sports and, or the, the speed way.

And it was really cool because we've got like, you know, just a line of cross

tracks and mine was like, I kind of felt out of place because mine was so very

like minor modifications compared to theirs, but it was cool seeing theirs in

person and like everything that they have on it.

You just like looking around at every little detail that they've added to, and

it's just really cool to see that in person.

Yeah.

I was like super starstruck.

And I think at that point, I, yeah, at that point, I like started listening

to the podcast and then, um, I saw Jen was there at this event.

Oh, nice.

So I, I saw a ghost in person.

Uh, Patrick was there like looking at his car and I'm just like walking around.

I don't know anyone.

No one knows who I am.

Like this is my, I'm just like staring, like too shy to introduce myself.

Just like kind of walking around.

I had my son with me and we're just like Googling at everybody's car and.

Did, did you end up talking to anybody though at the event?

I did.

Yeah.

I talked to a few people.

I kind of just like, um, I introduced myself kind of like snuck into a few places.

Um, uh, one of the guys I talked to there, um, for a bit, um, Adam, he wasn't

even in his typical Subaru.

He was in his wife's assent that day, but, um, he became a really good friend

that I've done a lot of stuff with.

Oh, nice.

But yeah, it's, it's really cool when you can, and I totally get the being shy

thing cause like I've been to events before where I'm like just walking around.

I'm like, I just feel, it just feels awkward walking up to somebody and

introducing yourself, you know, uh, but then like once you do start talking to

somebody, you're there for the same reason.

And then it makes the conversation so much easier.

Cause then you're pretty much going to talk about Subaru's.

And so that makes it, that makes it easier and less awkward and uncomfortable.

And then you can kind of just start opening up more from there.

But like how many of these types of events do you, are you able to make it out to?

Are there a lot of these events that happen around you?

Um, not as many as I would like, and that's something I wanted to try to start, um, you

know, like that if you build it, they will come thing, like organizing some more

stuff cause, um, every, everyone only has so much time, right?

Yeah.

Everyone's busy with their own things.

So, um, I think sometimes stuff just falls through the cracks and, um, I would

like to see like more just like the West Michigan side events and stuff.

Um, but yeah, we go a couple, like there's small things.

They're usually more spontaneous stuff, but like a couple of times a year we'll

have like that fall color run or like more organized things.

But a lot of times through like the Facebook page or just through some of our

like group chats, it'll be like, Hey, I'm not doing anything this weekend.

Anyone want to go on the trail?

And sometimes like those meets where you think it's just going to be like you and

one other person turns up to be like eight other cars.

And you're like, okay, now this like, I thought it was going to be just this

like thing, me meeting a friend at a gas station.

Now it's turned into like a car meet, but okay, like let's go.

Yeah.

Cause I mean, or evidently, or what am I trying to say?

Ultimately, somebody's going to tell somebody else and then it's going to

spread a little bit.

And, and I mean, that makes it fun.

Uh, but speaking of events, I know that you have been to over or, uh, to speaking

of events, I know you've been to Subaru flat fest, but you went in what 2023 and

2024, did you go last year also?

I didn't go, I didn't go last year.

So 23 and 24.

Yep.

Okay.

Yeah.

Cause I was looking through and I saw that you had been and I was wondering

like I kept scrolling down and like, did he go in 2022?

Like did we meet or not me?

Yeah.

No, no, yeah.

So 23, um, cause yeah, I didn't in 22 flat fest that would have been right

before I got my current Subaru.

Yeah.

Um, so, um, yeah, 20, 23 was my first year.

Um, and that was another one of those things where like you just, I was

overwhelmed, right?

Like of all the builds of all the people.

Um, but at that point, um, I had a few more connections in the community.

So I was able to like find like, Hey, I know you are familiar face or I follow

your car on Instagram.

Like, so there was able to be some of that that like made it a little easier.

Oh yeah, definitely.

Yeah.

Uh, both, both times I've gone to flat fest.

I've been with, um, my buddy, Nick, um, he goes by, um, the orange wagon on Instagram.

I think that's his handle.

Yeah.

But, um, he has a cross track with over 300,000 miles on it.

What?

Uh, first gen cross track.

Nice.

He beats the crap out of the thing and then put the back together and, uh, but no,

he's a great guy and, uh, I think both times I was with him at flat fest.

He won, um, the highest mileage award.

Yeah, that's cool.

But, um, so he's been like a constant, like familiar face that I've had like there.

And, um, then there's been other people.

It's like, Oh, you were here last year.

Oh yeah, we talked.

And then, so then you build that relationship going like two years in a row.

I was really bummed.

I couldn't go last year, but.

Yeah.

So when you went there, like you won an award for what muddiest Subaru or something

was that in 22 or 23?

That was in 23.

And I think Nick was mad that I wanted and not him, but, um, that 20 in 22, it was

really sloppy and muddy and messy, like the off road park they had there.

Yeah.

Which is really cool.

23, it was so hot and dry that they kept adding water to the mud pit.

And it just like soaked it up.

So cars were trying to like bomb through the mud and get super muddy.

And no one was having that much success.

Um, I just timed it like right after they filled the mud pool.

I was able to like go through it and get pretty muddy.

So that was, that was why I got, uh, dirtiest of the day that day.

But none of the cars were as dirty as some years.

Uh, yeah.

Yeah.

It was, uh, I was glad that I was able to make it up there when I did.

And I mean, that was a really, really long drive there and a really long and even

longer drive back, but it was cool to be able to, cause that was where I first

met Jen and Patrick and I met John, uh, who goes by, um, uh, Star Cal Nation.

I think he was still sub-wisconsinably back then before his account got hacked.

But yeah, I mean, just getting a chance to see all these people that are like

way north of me and being able to go on the off-road course and just, you know,

just see all this, uh, the cool stuff that they do there is really fun.

Yeah.

Um, I'm planning on going back again, um, this year.

So yeah, that'll be nice.

It gets its wet in, uh, August, right?

Like the first part of August.

And it's about a five and a half, six hour drive from me.

So it's not too bad, but yeah.

It would be, uh, a shorter drive if the lake wasn't in the way, right?

I know you have to go south down around the, around the lake.

There is a ferry that you can take across the lake, but like cost wise, it doesn't

really save you like the gas money because you have to pay for the ferry.

And it would probably save you time if you like timed it right, but the

ferry only leaves a certain, a few certain certain times.

So if you had, you have to have it scheduled where, um, you know, it would

line up that it would actually take you less time.

Otherwise you're just waiting for the ferry, but how long does it take

for the ferry to get across?

I think if never, I've never done it as an adult.

So I can't even, I can't even say, but I would say about like hour, two hours.

Okay.

That's not too bad.

Yeah.

So it's quicker to do the ferry if everything like lines up with scheduling and.

Yeah.

Uh, so like, where did you come up with the name all of the other outback?

I'm, I'm guessing the other outback because it's your other outback since you

had another one before and then all of because of the color.

Um, yeah, partly.

Um, so one of my favorite and my family's favorite Christmas stories is

all of the other reindeer.

Um, it was like a cartoon.

It's also a book, um, but, um, about this dog who thinks they're a reindeer.

Um, and the dog's name is olive.

And when I was thinking about names for my car, obviously the color popped in

like olive into my head.

And I was like, I don't want you to just like olive.

I want to like give it a little spice, make it different.

Yeah.

I was like, also I probably couldn't just do olive on Instagram.

I'm like, I'm sure that's taken.

Um, so I was trying to think of a little like little something unique.

And I was like, well, olive, the other reindeer, olive, the other outback.

Um, so yeah, that's where that came from.

Um, uh, just kind of, uh, more of like a nod to like me, my kids, love of Christmas

books, but yeah.

And what year is this outback now?

Uh, 2018.

Okay.

How many, how many miles did it have on it when you bought it?

It had just over a hundred thousand when I bought it and that was in 2022 of September.

What are you at now?

A hundred and 80, I'm over a hundred and 84,000.

Oh, nice.

That's some good mileage.

So I put some good miles on it in the past couple of years.

Yeah.

Still doing okay.

Yeah.

It's doing great.

That's good.

Yeah.

Really know nothing besides like the normal maintenance wear and tear stuff.

Yeah.

I remember like looking at used cars years ago and seeing cars that were like, I

was thinking like anything over 50,000 miles, like I don't want anything with

that many miles on it.

That's just crazy.

But then I hear so many people buying Subaru's with like, Oh yeah.

When I bought it, they had like 130,000 miles on it.

And, and that's like not that big of a deal, you know, because they, you know,

not that every single car is not going to have any issues, but it just seems like

with Subaru's, you're probably going to have less issues having that many miles

than maybe some of the other brands.

Cause like when I bought my son's car for him, cause he has a 2010 outback,

his had 199,000 and now he's at like 220, I think.

Okay.

And I was like, I'm not really worried about it having 199,000 miles on it

because it seems to be in pretty good condition.

And he's not, it's not like he's taking it on long road trips, you know.

So yeah.

It's been, it's been good so far.

Yeah.

I, um, I remember when I bought it and was like just looking at based on like our

price range and things and wanting to get another Subaru, but wanting something a

little newer than the old outback.

Like that was my goal.

Like a little newer than the old outback.

I think the old outback when it was total had about 150,000 miles on it.

So I was like, we want, I was like, I'm looking for something with less

miles, maybe a little newer and then like I'll be happy.

Right.

Um, just like looking for an upgrade.

Um, so then when I found this one, I was like, perfect, checks all the boxes.

And I remember some people, even like friends and stuff being like, why would you

buy a car with over a hundred thousand miles on it?

Cause it's a Subaru.

I was, I was like, it has less miles than my old car.

So like, I'm upgrading.

Like, what do you mean?

Yeah.

Uh, so what were some of the other mods that you started to do?

Because you said that you had the decals on and then, I mean, obviously looking at it,

you know, you've got wheels and tires and some ditch lights, but like, what

all have you done to it so far?

So the first, like, I guess you'd call it like real mod, besides like the

decals and the stickers and stuff, um, was a engine skid plate from primitive racing.

Um, very important.

Right.

And cause I knew I wanted to start, like once I learned about this community, I'm

like, wait, people do trail runs and there's like, there's, you can take these

cars off road and so I was like, okay.

So then that's when the wheels started turning.

And, um, I knew there were some people from third coast subis that were doing

some, like that were going off road regularly around me.

And I was like, okay, so what would I need to do to take my, take my car out there?

And everyone was telling me nothing, like just, just go for it.

Send it, like take it out.

And, um, I was a little nervous to like take it out completely stock.

So I did get, um, an engine skid plate, but then I went.

So at first trail run, I did, um, took it out with the engines, had the engine

skid plate, some decals and that was it.

So stock tires, um, stock height, stock, everything else, but just the skid plate.

So when you like first took it out, did you take it off of like, like into any

terrain, um, it's like other than just like maybe, uh, like a trail, like did

you, what, like any mud or anything like that?

Cause I'm just, I'm thinking about like the stock tires and where you may have

gone and how they performed.

Yeah.

So I, um, did it's mostly like forest roads, but there were some trails and

there ended up being some like puddles and rutted out areas and, um, but Nick was

there for that first, um, uh, trail run.

And I remembered messaging him before I was like, well, what if I get stuck or

like, what if like, I'm not going to be able to keep up with you because you're,

you have a three inch lift and I'm just like the stock Subaru.

He's like, we're not leaving anyone behind.

Like it'll be fine.

Like let's go.

And, um, so yeah, I just kind of like, all right, you lead, I'll follow.

And, um, there were a few things that just like, I didn't know about like avoiding

ruts and stuff and I was like, oh, I should probably have gone that way instead of

that way or didn't realize the car was going to lean that much when I went up

that bank and, um, but made it out of that first, uh, first trail run unscathed, no,

no damage, um, didn't get stuck.

And then I was like, all right, let's, that's, and that's kind of when like the

bug hit.

I'm like, all right, let's keep doing this.

Like what else can we do to the car?

Yeah.

I mean, when you first take it out and you find out what it can do and then

you realize like, oh, that wasn't so bad.

And then, then you kind of like, okay, I want to do that again because that was fun.

And yeah, I mean, it's just, it's fun going off road.

And I mean, even with what we have, you know, our limitations here as far as

places to go, there's times where there's a, there's a spot down the road for me,

like probably like five minutes away or so.

And it's just a gravel road and it has some little, you know, potholes in it.

And it's not anything that like, even a regular car could handle, but sometimes

I'm like, I just want to get off the pavement.

And even though this isn't anything spectacular, it's just fun to be off the

road and feeling the car move around and going through some potholes.

Yeah.

Well, and even when people say like, oh, like any car could do that.

It's like, yeah, probably, but my car did and it did it easily and that feels

good, right?

Like, yeah.

I, yeah, I'm still like always surprised at how easily they move through mud.

And unfortunately, I haven't been through mud in quite a while because we just

like all the spots that we would go hit that would get like muddy are being

taken away from us and it really sucks.

So whenever, you know, I, they're these spots that would get really muddy and

there'd be like a big mud pit, I would just like go drive out in the middle of

it and stop and then just start driving from a stop and it would just go.

And I'm like, this doesn't seem like it's supposed to be able to do this, but

it's so cool that it does.

Yeah.

I get to experience that a little bit when we have like the big snowfalls here

and there's just the fresh powder and you can go up onto to it, just driving

down an unpaved road, coming to a complete stop or an unplowed road, coming

to a complete stop and then being like, guess what, I'm not stuck.

Yeah, I know.

I like that feeling.

And I mean, I like going through the mud too and feeling the tire spin and

maybe like doing a little fishtailing.

I just, I like the way that feels knowing that like the all wheel drive is

working and, and I don't know, it's just something fun about it.

So after you got the skid plate on, like what was, what were some of the next

things that you did?

Um, pretty soon after that was wheels and tires.

So did the, um, wheels from Crawford performance, the icon alloys and the bright

gold, obnoxious gold color that I love.

No, they look good.

Um, I loved it with the green.

Like I was thinking, I was always thinking bronze, bronze, bronze, bronze, bronze,

like that bronze would look so good with the, um, green color.

But then I saw these gold ones and they were a great deal.

And I was like, you know what, gold would look pretty cool too.

Yeah.

Little, little flashier than maybe what I originally intended, but yeah.

Uh, so you've got the Jurassic Park decals on the side.

Like where did that theme come from?

So that was a trunker tree two Halloween's ago.

Okay.

There was a trunker treat event and I decided to, we were, would do the Jurassic

Park theme and, um, dress up and decorate the car.

And we just needed a theme, right?

So Jurassic Park, oh, that's a good theme.

And I was like, well, like we can, if we're doing it out of the car, I might as well

like get some stickers to like say Jurassic Park on the side of the car and kind of

like lean into it because at this point, like my car has like the roof basket and

the big tires and the wheels, like my car is already flashy.

I was like, let's just like have the whole car, not just the trunk, like tied

into the trunker treat theme.

So did that.

It was great.

And then, you know, Halloween comes and goes and I was like, oh yeah, I should

probably take those decals off.

Like now the trunker treat events over and they, I would, you know, leave them on

because the head work the next day and there'd be kids waving to me on the

expressway, like sticking their hand out the window, like waving at the car.

There'd be guys driving by giving a thumbs up and I'd be like, oh, people

like, like the decals.

That's cool.

Like just like lots of like smiles and friendly faces and waves.

And I was like, all right, well, like next weekend, I'll take the stickers off.

Right.

Like, well, just trunker treats over, take the stickers off.

And then every time I would go to like do it, so I either like pass another car

or someone had a red light would roll down their window and be like, that's

so cool, man.

And just like someone like it would make like brighten someone's day.

I had people like roll down their windows and be like, ah, your car made me laugh.

Thanks.

I needed that today.

And then so like, I was like, all right, I'll leave it on for a little longer.

And even like recently I've thought about like, oh, well, maybe it's time to move

on from the Jurassic Park theme and actually just yesterday morning at a stop

light, the guy like pulls up next to me and he's like tells me to roll down his

window and I've rolled down my window.

He goes, you have any dinosaurs in there?

I'm like, oh, no, not right now.

And he laughs.

I laugh.

We both drive away.

And I was like, oh, what a great way to start a day.

Like, yeah, it seems like one of those things it's like you want to do something

different and take it off.

But it's like, like you said, you're, you're, it seems like quite often you're

bringing a little bit of joy to people's days.

And, you know, my car was already standing out before that with the gold wheels

and the, you know, the off-road vibe and theme.

So I was like, this just kind of, you know, it goes with it.

It's the same kind of vibe.

And my kids like it.

I work at an elementary school and the kids at the school, like seeing it in

the parking lot, like it's, it's a topic of conversation.

Oh yeah.

No doubt.

My daughter has a dinosaur mask that she always keeps with her in the back seat.

So then like yesterday morning, when people pull up and like say something, she

can roll down her window and she'll just be wearing the dinosaur mask and like,

won't say anything or sometimes she'll just stick her head out the window.

Like she's a dog with the mask on and just like, so people driving by can just

see this dinosaur sticking out.

But that's funny.

How old is your daughter?

She's seven.

Oh, that's cool.

That's a fun age.

Yeah.

She has fun with it.

Yeah.

So that's what I'm like, if, if they like it and it's, you know.

Yeah.

Are you going to, do you have any other mods that you're planning on doing with it?

Because you have a lift too, don't you?

Yeah.

So the lift is new as of last January.

So, um, I guess December of 24, we put the lift on.

Okay.

Um, and that's from flat out suspension.

That was at the time, they're brand new trail runner suspension.

So not like a full like coil over like lift, but just swaps out the OEM shocks and struts.

And, um, kind of like comparable to like the Ironman.

Gotcha.

Nice.

Kind of like set up an install, but, um.

Did you put that in yourself?

Um, we put it in in my garage.

I had, um, Nick come over and just the two of us, mostly him and me providing snacks.

He was a whip it out in a couple hours.

Um, he made it look easy.

That's good.

But, and then I was able to learn a lot in the process too.

Oh yeah.

Cause I have never done a lot of my own car stuff.

Like the wiring and the electrical stuff never really scares me, but anything

involving suspension engines, I was always like, I don't want to break it.

So, um, I've gotten over the past couple of years, a little more outside of my

comfort zone with that, but still lots to learn.

But yeah, it's doing engine stuff and transmission stuff and, and like

suspension stuff can be a little bit scary.

Like I did my own brakes and I don't think I've ever done brakes before, but I

was with somebody, uh, this guy, Jonathan, he goes by Subamu.

He'd done brakes several times.

So he had like all the tools and everything.

So I wasn't really like worried about it messing up, but like whenever I got it

done, there was some squeaking or like some, I would drive and it would be like

shrink, shrink, shrink.

It was like every time I was, it was hitting something and I'm like, you

know what, I'm going to see if it just like eventually goes away and it did.

Cause I'm like, I have no idea where it is.

Yeah.

And, uh, but then like my son, we ended up changing out his knock

sensor on like bank two for his car because he kept getting like engine

lights coming on and stuff.

And he read that like, if you change that out, it'll help reset the codes.

And, you know, that helps with, uh, like the lights not coming on in his dash.

So we replaced the knock sensor.

That was pretty easy to do.

And then like, I think it was like the next day, he calls me from in town, like

30 minutes away and said that his belt was off and he was driving on the free

way and his steering, you know, like his power steering went out.

He gets off the freeway, pulls in, was able to actually accelerate some and pulls

into this parking lot and parks.

And then he had gotten out and the belt was off.

There was like metal shavings everywhere.

And, and I think it was that same night or maybe the night before he's cause

like his belt had been squeaking and we were looking at getting a new belt and

then just trying to replace it ourselves.

And, but what ended up happening is the, one of the, um, pulleys, the bearings

had gone bad in it.

And so it just like got all jacked up in there.

And it was, it was all the metal shavings that we saw where the bearings

that got all beat up.

Yeah.

And then like the belt tensioner was like not good.

And so we had the belt replaced that one pulley and then the belt tensioner.

And so now it's good, but it was scary because it happened right after we replaced

the knock sensor.

And so we were, what did I do?

Yeah, we were thinking, Oh my gosh, did we do something to make this happen?

Because it's like, what are the odds that that's going to happen?

And like right after we replace something that should have nothing to do with the

belt coming off.

I know it was like, how are those connected?

But yeah, it was just a coincidence.

Total coincidence.

Yeah.

But, but it's things like that where it's kind of like, you know, we were, uh, we're

just trying to do it ourselves because, or we were trying to, well, we're trying to

do the knock sensor ourselves because we figured we watched the video and we're

like, this is easy enough.

Like we're not going to pay labor for somebody else to do this.

But then of course, doing the belt, like we didn't know what was wrong with it.

So replacing the belt and everything else, we had a shop do it.

But, you know, that kind of stuff, you just got to take care of it.

Whenever I do anything and whether a new noise starts or an old noise goes away, I'm

like, is that okay?

Is that a good, is that a good removal of the noise?

Or like, was that, was that noise supposed to be there?

I'm always like, gotta trust your car again.

Yeah.

I have a big rattle underneath my car.

It's like, whenever I go over a road that has like very close together bumps, it's

like, it almost sounds like the, um, like the exhaust is hitting up underneath

cause it's like clink clink clink clink clink clink clink clink.

And hang or something?

I guess I don't know, but it happened after I went to Subaru flat fist.

So I blame Subaru flat fist because it was, it's been there for a while.

Yeah.

And because I was going over the, um, the big like telephone poles.

Okay.

And I didn't have a, I still don't have a lift, but like, I think most of the other

cars had lifts, but I was going over one of the telephone poles and I guess I just

went like too straight on and not at an angle or something.

And when I went over, I like bottomed out on it and like hit pretty hard.

And so ever since then I've had this, this, you know, rattle and I can't find it.

I go underneath there, you know, of course I wait till everything's cooled off,

but I go under there, I pull on everything and like nothing, I can't find anything loose.

So I have no idea what it is, but nothing's falling off.

So I guess it's okay.

Now you're just used to that rattle.

If that rattle ever goes away, you're going to be so worried.

Yeah.

So, I mean, I just like every time there's, there's two, there's like two spots or two

different roads where I know it's going to rattle like really bad.

And like every time I go down the road, I just laugh when it's doing it.

And I'm just thinking like, if somebody's outside of my car, they're probably like,

man, what's wrong with that car?

Cause it's, it's pretty loud.

So with your mods, like what would you say that is your favorite and which one has

proved to be most useful?

I think kind of related, but most useful is probably the tires.

I have the Nitto Nomad all-terrain and like I said, like having my previous outback and then

this one, that was my first time experiencing all-wheel drive.

And then this was my first time really experiencing a tire other than like an all-season tire.

Yeah.

And just even what like the all-terrains can do in the winter, what they can do in the mud,

in the snow and like all types of weather, even in the rain, I've been super impressed.

Yeah. Cause you definitely want something that's going to make a difference.

And I mean, just tires are expensive, but if you have the ability to change out your

tires, that makes a big difference.

And that's a good modification, especially if you're going to be going off-road more.

That's definitely helpful.

Yeah. And then it gives the car like a nice stance.

And yeah, cause I just had wheels and tires for a while before like the lift, but it even

gave, like I had people come up to me the first time I attended Flatfest and they were like,

that's lifted, right? I was like, nope, stock height.

Like, but just I had that like stance with the bigger tires and wheels.

Yeah. I've had people ask me if my cross-track is lifted.

It's not. I guess maybe sometimes it looks like it, but I'd like to get a lift,

one of these days, if I can, but I don't need one, but I love the way it looks.

Right? Yeah. It's one of those things. Sometimes you don't need it, but then

you'll get, and you're like, oh, glad I had it. Like I didn't go over that telephone pole,

or I made it over that telephone pole at Flatfest.

Yeah. If I ever go back up there, I may need to get a lift before I go back up there.

But then my favorite mod, which is related, but like I love the gold wheels. Like I have

fallen in love with that gold. Like it becomes, it's the car's personality now, just those

gold wheels. And they fit with the Jurassic Park theme now too, so it just all kind of plays together.

So you talked about getting out with people and going to events and hitting trails. Like,

what is the nearest trail towards you? Because I know you said you're

somewhat limited also, but not like as bad as we are here.

Yeah. So there's like a lot of little things. Like where we're limited is more of like big

obstacle kind of stuff. There's a ton of that and at least the lower peninsula of Michigan.

But yeah, by me, probably 25, 30 minutes from my house, I have like a whole trail system.

It's like a state game area. So there's state parkland and then there's like state forest roads.

A lot of hunters use that area too. So like the trails, like to go to their hunting spots,

but we can just drive through and. Oh, nice. So that's all like public land. And

there's a lot of good stuff there in that area. Nothing too technical, but a lot of good scenery,

some cool like lakes that you can pull up to and fish at some cool spots just to pull over and

hang out. But yeah, so I'll explore there. Like that's usually like if I'm going on a spontaneous

trip, I'll head that area. I'll head over there. Yeah, that's nice. Yeah, it's good to have stuff

that's close by that if you're just like, man, I just want to get out of here and go hit some

trails and it's not hard to do. It doesn't take up like a whole day of like travel and planning.

It's like, yeah, we could go and we could be back in a couple hours and that's fine.

Yeah, because I mean the best like, you know, I mentioned before, the best thing that we have

is cheeseburger loop. And it's, I mean, it's good. It's, it's not, it's better when it rains

because then there's some pretty fun spots. But for the most part, it's just gravel roads. But

I mean, it is pretty up there. However, however, it's cheeseburger loop is really big. I don't

know exactly how long it would take to drive around the whole thing. But and I, I don't remember,

let me see if I can see how many miles it is. I know that it's, it's like, it's quite a few miles.

Oh wait, wrong app. But there's, there are spots of cheeseburger loop that I haven't even been to.

But like, I would say that the parts that I have been to, it's maybe like only 30% of it

is off road is like, okay. So a lot of it's, is it a paved road or like a gravel road?

Well, there's a lot of paved roads to get to the gravel roads basically. And so, you know, it's like,

again, it's, it's nice. But and, and it's, but it's like a little over an hour away. So it's not

like we have, you know, a ton of stuff to do there. Yeah. So cheeseburger loop is 163 miles.

So, okay. Wow. Yeah. And I think I've explored like maybe a quarter of it, if that. So like,

one of these days, I just want to like take a whole Saturday to go out there, fill up my tank,

and go explore it. Because you know, I'll have enough, I'll have enough gas to go around the

but I just, it's so big. And we usually end up going like kind of mid afternoon. And so

I don't want to end up being out there like really, really late when we're going around.

So we'd have to like go in the morning. I'm always surprised. Like how long the different

trail runs take you like only going like if you think about mileage, like I'll go and we'll just

do these little trails that go kind of back and forth and we'll zigzag through the woods.

And I'll be like, okay, we were out there for three hours. And you know, we stopped,

we take pictures, we talk, we have snacks, whatever. And then I'm like, we're out there

for three hours and we went 12 miles. It's like, we didn't cover a lot of ground, but

it's always funny how that time goes by on the trail. But yeah.

So what's the longest distance you've traveled in Olive?

So probably either when we went up to my wife and I took it up to the UP,

so the upper peninsula of Michigan and did like a whole tour of the different like sites,

like a lot of the touristy stuff up there, driving all around. And that was for our 10th

wedding anniversary a couple of years ago. Oh, cool. But that was a cool trip. We drove all

around the UP, didn't do any off-roading or anything, but traveled to some cool spots like

Pictured Rocks and to Kwamanon Falls. And we camped every night we were up there. So we camped

in the back, we slept in the back of the car. Yeah, I had the Loono mattress at that time. So

that was like the trip we used to break it in. Okay. How long were you gone?

I think it was like five days, like a long weekend, like a Thursday to a Monday or

Thursday to a Tuesday. I can't remember, but it was during the summer. Nice.

Yeah. And then so you said you had the Loono mattress. Do you have something different now?

No, I have that. I was just thinking that was the first trip that we really used the

Loono mattress. Okay. But yeah, have that. We've been using that. It's a blast.

Yeah, they're nice. It goes up easy and so comfortable. I prefer that over like the mattress

in my bedroom at times. I've heard that before. It's pretty great. My wife has some like back

issues and like just needs like a good night's sleep and a good mattress. And she loves the

Loono mattress. Like she prefers that over other tent sleeping or anything else. Even we have a

pop-up camper that we'll camp in for like family trips and long trips and stuff. And she prefers

the Loono mattress over like the mattress that we have in the pop-up camper. Does a Loono mattress

fit in there on top of the existing mattress? Just take it there. It probably would. That might

have to be a hack for next time. Yeah, that would be cool. I saw that you went to a Bucky's. Where

was that? So that was on our Louisville, Kentucky trip. So that Bucky's was like outside of Louisville

on our way to Mammoth Caves. Okay. Because Bucky's... That was my first Bucky's experience.

Yeah, they're pretty cool when people don't understand the scale and like just the lure.

I had no idea. Yeah, the lure to a Bucky's. Like here where I live in Katie, the Bucky's that we

have has like over 100 pumps. And I don't know what the square footage is, but it's a pretty big

store. And I've been in bigger stores than this one, but we do have the longest car wash in the

world, which is really cool. Oh, at that Bucky's, okay. Yeah. At least, I mean, I know when it was

built at the time it was. I don't know if it still is, but I mean, it's a really long... And I've never

been able to go through it because of all the stuff on my car. But yeah, Bucky's is cool. And it

used to be that they were only in Texas. And so like now that we're seeing them pop up in

other states, it's cool. But then it's also kind of like, come on, man, it would have been cool if

it was just a Texas thing. It's like you have to come to Texas to experience Bucky's, but

right. Yeah. So yeah, this one was in Louisville. That's the closest Bucky's to me.

Nearby, there was a billboard that popped up like in Michigan that it was a Bucky's billboard.

And it said like nearest Bucky's, 560 miles. And that's like the Louisville one. But I was like,

why is that billboard in Michigan? It just seems like it was funny that I was like,

does that mean they're going to be spreading out more up this way? Or I don't know, but...

Yeah. I'm going to look up. Let's see. Yeah. So the Bucky's in Katie. It's a 56,000 square foot

travel center. So yeah. And it has 120 fuel pumps. The car wash is 250 feet long,

and it is recognized as the world's longest car wash. So kind of cool that we have that here in

like little Katie, because Katie is, it's like a suburb of in West Houston. And Katie was like,

not that big of a town, but it's growing. It's still growing. I mean, I've been here since 91,

and it has grown so much. There's so much stuff out here, which is both nice for convenience,

but then also it's like all this land is being taken up that was so vacant for so long, and it

was really cool. But you can't, not a whole lot you can do about it, I guess. I'm just thinking

about like world's longest car wash. I feel like there'd have to be a length of car wash that you

hit the optimum car wash length, where what's happening with that extra length of car wash?

Yeah. I mean, it's like, you know, spray, and then scrub, and then wash, and then spray again,

and then scrub. I don't even know what the process is. It's like, how clean can you,

like these cars must be coming out looking brand new, I guess. I don't know.

Yeah. I never do with all the stuff on my car. I never do the automatic car wash, but

yeah. So I know you've driven through snow and mud, but which would you say is like your favorite

to drive through? Just with like the snow, I'm used to driving it. It's here pretty regularly,

so it doesn't feel super special. And on the trails, I always feel like it's a little more

unpredictable. It makes me nervous because you can't see what you're going over, right?

But I'd say my favorite is probably just like a good muddy puddle.

Yeah. One that's like deep, but not too deep that you have to worry about like, oh, I wish

I had a snorkel, but just deep enough to splash and make everything messy, spray up on the kids

windows, they'll like be cheering, and yeah. Yeah. Mud puddles are fine. Yeah. The thing that

sucks, well, I mean, if it's just like muddy water and you're going through, that's not so bad,

but when it's like mud and it's just like spraying up underneath the car and everything,

like the mud that collects in the wheel wells, that sucks getting that out. I mean, the nice thing

about snow is it just melts off, you know? Right. But yeah, with mud, man, it's horrible.

The worst part about the snow isn't even like the snow here. It's the salt that they put down

on the roads. Yeah. Like that's what I'm always worried. I just took my car to the car wash today,

it was like spraying all the salt off, and it just, that just gets nasty. Do you have any

rusting issues going on? No, but I want to keep it that way, right? Yeah.

But yeah, I drive it all. I don't like do a lot to avoid the rust. I don't have a special film

underneath or anything, but if, you know, if when I bought the car, it didn't already have 100,000

miles, I might have looked more into that. And maybe for my next new Subaru that I want a baby

more, I'd look into like coating the bottom to protect that a little bit more from the Michigan

Salt. Yeah. But for this one, it's just kind of like, we're here to have fun with it. Yeah. Yeah.

What would you say like about your Subaru and your Outback like brings you the most joy?

I think the, it's kind of gotten me outside of my comfort zone and like trying new things, right?

Like I never thought I'd be the guy driving around town with a Jurassic Park car. I never

thought I'd be the guy driving around town with a car with gold wheels, right? Yeah.

And I also never thought that those things would bring me joy and they do. So I think just like

kind of opening myself up to those possibilities of new experiences and finding joy in the unexpected

things. Yeah. And also it just gives us an excuse to like get out with the kids and explore different

stuff. Yeah. And like it's a good way to express yourself too. And like it's like an outlet to

express yourself because you're customizing your car to your liking and doing things that

can draw attention even if you're somebody that may be not of, because like I don't always like

attention like on myself. But when I'm in my car and I see people looking, I'm like, it's okay,

you can look. Yeah. And like you want people to, sometimes you want people to be like

turning around and looking at it and being like, what is that? You know, that's cool or whatever.

The confused looks, the happy looks, I'll take it all. I'll take the looks. Yeah. That's fun.

And sometimes I'll be driving my wife's truck and I'll stop and I'll be like, why isn't anyone

looking at me? Oh, yeah. It's nothing special. Yeah. I know there's been times when I'll be out of

town and especially when I worked like two jobs ago and I would have to go out of town for work

and we would be in a rental car and I'm driving around and I would see other Subaru's and I'm

like, oh man, I'm not mine. I'm like in some regular other car, boring car. You wave at them

and they're just wondering what you're doing. Yeah. What are you doing? Let's see. Oh yeah.

So like what is your like thinking about the Outback itself, not including any of the mods?

Like what are your like favorite features on the inside and the outside?

Yeah. I think, I guess this is a feature, but what we talked about earlier with like the all-wheel

drive, just being impressed like the Subaru specific all-wheel drive and what it can do

and all types of weather. So I guess that counts as like an outside feature. For the inside, I just

like all the space. I never, from looking at that car, I never thought I'd be able to sleep in it

comfortably or sleep comfortably with myself and two kids and we can do it like with all our gear and

so yeah, I think the cargo space and that's kind of what drew me to the Outback over some other

like Subaru models. Yeah, having that space is definitely important, especially if you're going

to be sleeping in it and then and being able to have space to do that and then also have gear too.

So where do you like put most of your gear when you go camping?

We put a lot of it up on the roof. So like in the roof box or just out at the campsite. So like

we'll have everything in the back when we're traveling then when we set up camp we'll have

different. I have like a pop-up changing room tent that we'll usually throw the suitcases in.

Nice. So the suitcases can be in that and then we also have a space to change and then that gets

more stuff out of the car. That's cool. Have you ever like considered doing a rooftop tent or do you

think you're just going to continue doing sleeping inside the car? I think we'll probably just do

sleeping inside the car because for like the bigger trips that maybe like the rooftop tent

would be more beneficial, we usually take our pop-up camper. So we look at that but the Subaru

doesn't pull that but we'll do that for like the longer family camping trips and stuff.

Gotcha. But on some trips we'll bring both like last summer we went up north to Traverse City and

my wife drove her truck and pulled the camper and then I had the Subaru to do all fun Subaru

things in and we just took two vehicles camping. Why not? There you go. Yeah, that's cool.

Like if you were to like if you were talking to somebody at an event or just like you were

out somewhere and somebody was looking at your car and asking about it and stuff and

they were like considering buying a Subaru, what would you say to them to like try to convince them

that you should go with a Subaru next? Yeah, I think I'm kind of having this conversation with my

parents right now because they're looking at getting a new car and they're kind of they want

a third row SUV. So I was like well Subaru makes a third row SUV, the Ascent right? So

and like what I've been talking to them about is the safety features right? The kind of bang for

your buck I guess I call it like I feel like what you can get like if you're looking at like the

newer Subaru's you get a lot of technology features, you get a lot in the Ascent cup holders

and for less than like some of the comparable maybe like what you would get for like a Toyota

but you still get the longevity versus some other car makes. Are they considering it or is

it they're just like okay we'll think about it? Well they're kind of they've been saying okay

we'll think about it for a while but actually I just found out they test drove an Ascent today

and really liked it so who knows maybe we'll add another Subaru to the family. That would be cool

yeah that would be nice. So like what would you say about your Outback best matches your personality?

I would say maybe like always willing to try something even if they're not the best at it

right like that's kind of how I feel about myself that like jack of all trades master of none

philosophy like idea like hey like I might not be the best at doing this I'm not the most handy

or whatever but like I'll give it a shot and I feel like that's how my like Subaru is on the

trail like I'm not a big rig or anything but like I'll go down that trail I'll give it a shot

like why not? Yeah yeah and they they do incredibly well off-road yeah and you know I because like

for the people that buy a Subaru typically is and if they're wanting to go off-road and stuff

they're not looking to do anything crazy you know I think I think most people just want to get off

the pavement and go hit some like forest roads or something yeah you know and then it can yeah

and then it can grow into something more when you find out like oh you can put on a lift and you

can get skid plates and now I can go do a little bit more sketchy stuff but you know it's it's just

to be able to get off the pavement and go hit something go hit some trails and stuff that you

probably couldn't do in a regular car just because of clearance and then not having the

all-wheel drive I mean just those all wheel drive yeah yeah just having the all-wheel drive and the

stock clearance is like that can get you to people to a lot more spaces than than another car could

and a lot more places than people realize and that's what makes them so much fun yeah so if you

could describe your outback in one word what would it be uh oh the one I thought of when I

read this question was um and I say this in the most endearing way but obnoxious yeah it's out there

I've always like tease my wife about like oh like do you mind taking the obnoxious car like

people are gonna look at us like can we whether we're going out in public or going out to her

work or something I'm like sorry I'm going to take the obnoxious car is she very supportive of it

oh yeah she she's the one I've always been like yeah well we could take the Jurassic Park stuff on

and she's like no go for it it's great you have fun with it so that's good um and now she's like

and she's like you know we have my car that's the normal car so if we need a normal less obnoxious

car we we have an option yeah pull up to like a really fancy restaurant in the outback right hey

dinosaurs gotta eat too yeah I just I think it's fun I mean when you have something that's

different and you're driving around and amongst everybody else you know like we were just saying

earlier and you get people looking at it this it's it's a cool feeling the smiles per gallon yeah

definitely so how is owning your Subaru and your outback changed your life

um I think I think just um opening like I kind of said before but opening myself up to

connecting I think I guess I'd say connecting my passions which cars the outdoors two everyday

parts of my life um I've always liked cars I've always considered well I guess I haven't

always considered myself a car guy but I always wanted to be a car guy and like when you're

no you're in high school and you're looking at all the cars and you're always dreaming about your car

and I thought I'd love to own that one day right yeah oh yeah and um you always have like kind of

those dreams and then life happens reality takes over and I like just kind of like for a while got

stuck in the like well I'm not cool enough to be a car guy or my car is not cool enough for me to

be a car guy um like I can't like cars because I drive a Subaru right like I just drive the

Subaru outback like this you know grandma car I can't like I'm not a car guy right like that's

like what I thought for a while and then this car and this community have like opened me up to

like no like if you're passionate about something make it about what you like have that be a part

of who you are and it doesn't have to be just like because before my car guy like passion was when I

would you know scroll through Instagram or Facebook and like look at other people's cars and be like

oh I like that car but like no like if you're passionate about something it's encourage me to

like bring that into a more focused part of my life yeah no I agree because like I was you know

I mean the younger me was thinking that like my age now I probably be you know or want to be able

to drive like some expensive you know fancy either like luxury car or sports car or something and

I'm 53 driving a $23,000 cross trek and I'm like I'm totally perfectly happy with that like I love

have it any other way yeah I mean the only other thing I would do differently is like if I had the

money to drop like a one of the new WRX engines in it or something and do some other swaps I might do

that never say never and put in a you know put in a lift but I don't know I mean it's just I love my car

and you know when you mentioned your buddy was it's Nick that has a car that has 300,000 miles on

the yeah first-gen cross trek I mean I'm in I'm close to 142 and I'm like I want to see how many

miles I can get on my car yeah and because I think it's fun I'm like I just want to keep going

and see where see where I can take it yeah for sure do you think you'll always own a Subaru

yeah I think I think definitely I think you know always have to have at least one

Subaru when my kids start driving my son he's 11 so he'll be driving you know still got plenty

of time but eventually and yeah I think you know I love the safety idea for the kids and I think

there's always going to be at least one preferably more than one Subaru in the driveway yeah yeah

I mean both of my kids have Subarus now and I'm glad that they both drive a Subaru and that you

know for the safety safety aspect of it I mean my daughter got into an accident not too long ago

like maybe three and a half weeks ago or something okay and somebody ran a red light she was going

through an intersection she had to stop to let one person go by who ran the red light and then

she started to go again and somebody else like who totally ran the red light hit her in the

driver's side front like you know right at the front corner so thankfully it wasn't

further back to where like hit the wheel and jacked up the suspension or anything and then

really really thankfully it didn't hit her on her driver's door because she's pregnant so you know

that was just like because because we got rear ended in my car when she was pregnant and she's

like I can't believe I've gotten into two accidents while I'm pregnant like this is stupid and both

cases you know it's just like somebody not paying attention like the person behind who hit me from

behind just wasn't paying attention and then the person that hit her blatantly ran the red light

I mean that's like no no insurance no license it's crazy wow yeah so be careful out there people

watch for those people running red lights because it seems to be happening a lot

so I saw scrolling through your page and I saw some stuff about snowdrift so I want to ask you

about that like it looks like you've been and I want to find out like I don't know that I've talked

to anybody that's actually been to snowdrift besides like Travis and and Rhiannon but like no

spectators I don't I don't think so I could be wrong but yeah what is your experience like

going to snowdrift because it looks pretty crazy and I mean I know like all of those stages or

all of those events there's like multiple stages and so you kind of can set up in different places

but what I want to know too is have you been to what is it the bonfire alley yeah okay yeah

no uh snowdrift's awesome um I've actually been three times that was one of the

like early on in my Subaru journey um uh some I kind of heard about it I think I've probably

even heard about it somewhat through the podcast maybe a Rhiannon episode um got me thinking about

it and it's not local to me but um as far as things go about a five hour drive um

well that would be worth it yeah oh for sure right yeah and it's areas like I've driven through um

so it's hosted in Atlanta Michigan and then the surrounding areas but um when I first went to

snowdrift and found out about it I was like wait I've been to this park before I've had lunch here

like I knew the area but I didn't even realize like until like I kind of showed up there yeah

but um yeah it's a rally race in northern Michigan um in the lower peninsula so um

that takes place in February every year and the cool thing is it's usually pretty snowy and icy

so it's a different challenge for the drivers than what they see in the rest of like the

ARA season oh yeah and the cars aren't allowed to use any studs or anything so that's um yeah

that's crazy thing compared to some of like the world rally cars that race in the snow and stuff

they'll have studded tires but um did you go this year yeah I went this year this was my third

third time attending um all three times I've gone with my son so he's um 11 now and he's kind of like

built his love of Subaru in cars through snowdrift and like seeing all the cool rally cars there

oh I can imagine man is a kid I would love to say his right like I would love to say his

love of cars came from just seeing my car but you know it's at the end of the day it's an outback

and it's not as cool as Travis or Brandon Seminix uh you know yeah WRX definitely not as fast

exactly so um yeah I've done that with him all three times and it's just kind of turned into

this tradition um every time we've gone it's looked a little different as far as our setup

and how we've spectated and also the weather right so the first time we went um three years ago

they nicknamed it poo drift because it was one of the first snow drifts that there was no snow

I remember that it was just all mud um so that it was nice because the weather was comfortable

it was instead of you know in the negative or freezing temperatures it was in the 50s so that

was nice yeah everything was wet and kind of swampy and mucky and so it was it was a different

type of race there and that was the first time we went um that year we stayed in a little like

cabin's a strong word but hut with bunk beds um at like a local state park um two of my other

subi buddies they were very new subi buddies at the time but Brian and Adam uh stayed with us and

it was just the four of us in these bunk beds camping and watching rally cars together that's

cool but yeah I didn't know much about that time so like we're going out and you get to go to the

park expo where you get to meet the drivers and see all the cars and take all the cool pictures

and that was awesome but it was like overwhelming right I had no I see of people in this tiny little

park like this town is a one stoplight town um and then all these people come out to wash all

these rally cars right so it's just yeah it's exciting it's cool for the town um I definitely

I think the park expose would be like probably one of the coolest aspects of it being able to

get out there and meet the drivers and just see all the cars you know and uh so are you I mean

because it's like a three day event right and did you stay for the whole time yeah so we would

usually get up there so the racing starts Friday night and then they race like all day Saturday

and then pretty much everyone packs up and go home goes home on Sunday morning so we would usually

get up like I think the first year we got up there Friday to kind of see some of the cars

get set up and at the park um expose and then we would um that first night we didn't

see any racing on Friday night we just kind of like got set up and got settled but yeah um

and then on Saturday it's washing racing all day so that first year we did a lot of like

kind of chasing the cars right we'd go to this stage then we'd run back to our car drive to

another stage go to this day like try to like and you know you're like that was fun or you're

racing around and you didn't really know like oh I'm not going to be able to see anything and

find in the spot so that's exciting so what what is that like going like whenever you're done with

the stage and then you get in your car and drive around like where where do you drive like from

and to like where do you drive on the like other roads to get around and do they have like people

directing you like hey if you want to spectate for the next stage this is the way you want to go

because I don't really I don't think I've talked to anybody about that part of it as far as spectating

yeah so they like they they give you maps and stuff that you can either download or print out or like

in this scenario they have maps that like all the local gas stations and everything like little

spectator guides but so they and on those maps they say like if you're going to spectate enter

via this road park on this side of the road go to this spectator area so usually park kind of a

ways away and then walk into the woods and okay then you're alongside of the course um

in that but as far as getting to those spots you're just driving normal roads

this year as we were driving to one of the spectator areas we had one of the rally cars right

behind me oh nice because he was driving to the starting point and we were driving to the

spectating point and I'm you know driving down this little winding road and I'm looking back and

one of the rally cars is behind me and I'm like I hope he thinks I'm going fast enough yeah yeah

that's cool so that was kind of a cool thing just like because you know they take the same roads and

then um that was at the beginning of Saturday this year so like they have a staggered start

so then as we got to the spectator area we saw also cars leaving to go to the next stage so like

we're rolling into this one road and they're coming down the road like going off to the next thing

so the cars are just going by it's pretty cool you'll honk they'll honk back and yeah so what's

like the the coolest aspect about that whole experience for you uh for me I think like personally

it's sharing it with my son and like watching him get excited about something that I'm also excited

about yeah but um like also bigger picture wise just seeing like same kind of thing like seeing

all these people out here in the woods like all like this year it was negative temperatures

it was cold um and we're all you know there's hundreds of people thousands of people um in the

woods watching these rally cars go by and we're like hey we all you know and some of them aren't

even Subaru people most of a lot of them aren't Subaru people right they're just but they're

enthusiasts and like you know even though we like drive different things you know all different

ages it's like yeah we're all out here like we're all excited about something and that so that's

that's really cool do you have enough gear with you like gloves and jackets and stuff like that and

or do you did you like get out there and be like I thought I brought enough but man is I'm freezing

yeah so like since from like the first year we went when I was saying like we kind of bounced

around from stage to stage right like that was fun but it's a lot of walking and you know

didn't see as many cars either right um so these past two years we've picked one spot and we've

hunkered down and that's one spot all day okay because the way at least I don't know if all

rally races the only a r a race I've been to is snow drift but at least the way snow drift is set up

is every stage is actually two stages so for example like today or this year we were at stages

it was like stage nine and stage 14 so okay gotcha so you know you watch all the cars come through

stage nine and then you wait two hours and the cars are coming back around again for stage 14

yeah so that so it was just easy I felt like you got more bang for your it's free but right like

yeah um you know just being out there so like the last two times we brought we brought out our

grill and our you know big the cooler bring everything and just kind of like make a little

base camp in the snow and that sounds like fun but yeah you mentioned bonfire alley this was the

first year they didn't do bonfire alley just one of those things to preserve the woods and to preserve

safety I think they're kind of yeah taking a break this year I don't I'm sure it'll come back one

year but um a lot of people had a lot of feelings about the lack of bonfire alley um I actually

that was um now I kind of regret it now but um one part of snow drift I never experienced just

having a young kid with me yeah bonfire alley gets it's later obviously and then it gets a little

rowdy yeah that's what I've seen rowdy in a good way like it's it's fun again everyone's excited

and kind but just it's a lot yeah um the pictures are so cool the videos are so yeah um but also on

all the stages even including this year there's fires everywhere okay nothing as dark and late

and big as bonfire alley but like everyone has a fire going and there's you know people are

roasting hot dogs they're staying warm um you know it's it's northern Michigan in the woods you

kind of need a fire just to you know yeah yourself safe do you think that at some point you'll ever

want to volunteer because I know that they need volunteers and I've heard that that's kind of a

cool experience because then you get to see all of the drivers coming through and yeah depending on

what the volunteer position is yeah I think if there was ever a year like in in upcoming years

like where for some reason like my son couldn't go and I was going by myself I would love to

like volunteer that'd be like something to keep me busy um or when he gets older I think it would

be cool to volunteer with him and yeah that's what I was thinking because I want how do you know how

old you have to be to volunteer do you have to be like 16 or 18 I'm guessing yeah like 16 probably

seems I think okay I don't even know if they have a rule they just probably expect you to be helpful

more helpful than you're not like yeah but um yeah so just that experience of Snowdrift has been

cool and then it's allowed my son to like make his own connections whether it's he like you know

getting to meet Travis Pastrana which is the one he has posters of in his room or this year he got

Leah Blocks autograph oh that's cool and he has this Williams racing hat it's an F1 racing hat

that he's always one of his favorite things and Leah Blocks used to race for the F1 Academy for

Williams racing so he got her to sign that hat and he's like this is so cool and then he has a

Subaru Motorsports hat that has Rhiannon, Travis, Brandon Seminik and Keaton Williams autographs

all on it that's cool yeah so you mentioned earlier something that you get to like see your son get

excited about that you like I remember the first time that I rode a roller coaster with my daughter

because like I've always liked roller coasters and we went to SeaWorld in San Antonio and there's

a there's a roller coaster called the Steel Eel and it's just a big loop like it's a long linear

you know loop but it has a lot like the the first drop is really really high

and so you go down the first drop and it's all just a bunch of hills it just goes up and down up

and down but it's like it's a lot of fun and so I you know like I asked her if she wanted to ride it

and she was like yeah she was only seven and we sat like maybe a third of the way back or something

and so we were riding it and we're going up like this big giant hill you know and going down and

I'm looking over at her like you know trying to gauge her expressions and be like is she okay you

know yeah and because she was only seven so we got to the end of the ride and I was like did you

like that and she was like yeah and I said do you want to ride it again and she was like yeah

and I said do you want to ride in the front she was like yeah so so we rode it in the front

and then it was like years later when she was I think she was 12 she was like daddy we need to

go to SeaWorld again and ride the roller coasters and I'm like no we need to go to Six Flags and

go ride the big roller coasters and she was like okay so we went and they have like Superman and

Poltergeist and I think a Batman ride and some other stuff but we rode in the front on every

single ride because she liked that and I like it too so that was like super super cool that we got

to experience that together that that I was like I love roller coasters and she loves roller coasters

too and it was fun to go experience that together. Have you ever been to Cedar Point? No but we've

talked about that I want to go to Cedar Point so that's over more my neck of the woods so that's

that's a good one. Yeah we've because I remember like a long time ago on the travel channel they

would have like the top roller coasters of the world and Cedar Point would be on there every

year with like the you know like in the top 10 they would have like the top four or something like

that yeah and because I really want to drive top three or ride trot let me do that over I really

want to ride top thrill dragster and and some of the other ones that are there because they just

look insane and and a lot of fun. Yeah I'm not I'm not a big roller coaster guy but my rest of my

family is and yeah we're Cedar Points where it's at. Yeah we had fun at Disney World too they had

some good ones there like we rode Tron Tron was a lot of fun all fun and then we did like Hagrid's

ride at what you might call it at Universal Studios okay and there were some other ones

that we rode on that were a lot of fun but yeah I've always loved roller coasters it's been

it's been like and like it's almost like the bigger and scarier they are the better you know

so that thrill like yeah yeah whether that thrill comes from you know driving a Subaru or a roller

coaster it's all good right oh yeah yeah definitely so yeah well and when when you can share that

stuff with your kids like you're talking about that look on your daughter's face like yeah like

you're just like oh we found something like that's such a cool thing and yeah um yeah so definitely

found that with my son my daughter she's like I think she's excited about cars now too because

we're excited about cars so yeah um especially over the years she's seven now but even when she was

like younger you know she'd see any car in the parking lot and she'd be like that car's green

is that cool can we talk about that car like what about that car like so but it's cool how that's

like just like she's just noticing things and um I keep a box of hot wheels in my car for like

rigs and coffee and car show nice um so like pass out to kids when we're there but um also whenever

the kids like just even at the grocery store parking lot whenever they see a car that they think is

really cool or really excited about I'm like go go in the back and like pick out a hot wheel and

leave leave it on the car oh yeah that's usually use like leave a post-it note or something that

says like have a good day or yeah but and you know sometimes I'll say like my daughter liked your car

my son liked your car and just wanted to give you this and sometimes like my son only likes to do it

if he can fight we have a hot wheel that like matches that car yeah and um my daughter just

like we just give him a car like everybody gets a car but yeah um it's been cool to like you know

just do that with them it's just another just like what we were saying with the um

my the silly Jurassic Park theme like it brings people joy smiles per gallon like oh yeah yeah

yeah and then like uh two spring breaks ago because my son's on spring break now but it was

like I guess it was his last year of high school we uh he had never seen proper snow and I've been

out of town and I had seen snow the school where my daughter was going to school she saw like really

good snow up there but he had never seen like proper snow so we flew out to uh Lake Tahoe

and met up with a guy out there that has a Subaru and he used to have a first gen

cross trek so not only did we get to see snow but we got to go snowboarding for a day and we

got to go drive a Subaru through the snow and so seeing him you know experience driving a Subaru

through the snow and then snowboarding for the first time which it was my first time snowboarding

too so that was like a really cool experience together did you ever ski before or first time

doing skiing or snowboarding okay first time I had always wanted to go snowboarding uh just never

you know like I know people that either like grew up with parents that were able to go you know take

them on vacations and stuff or like they had a friend that would you know take them and I just

never had an opportunity and then you know when I became an adult I never had the money to go do

it right and so you know it's an expensive hobby yeah well when we went the guy that we knew he

worked at heavenly ski resort so we got 50 off the lift tickets and then you know some other

hookups with stuff but man it was it was so much fun and uh I you know I for me I got a little bruised

up falling down you know and I had I had trouble standing up but it was a lot of fun it was definitely

worth it and uh just that whole experience yeah very cool yeah so in this last segment we'll get

to know you a little bit more but who is Andrew as in describe yourself all right um I'm a dad

husband a teacher I love uh being outside camping um and grilling if I can combine the two camping

and grilling that's like the ideal um and yeah I say I'm more on the introverted side

I think Subaru's helped with that though yeah especially when you're around other people that

have you know the same interest it makes it like we were talking earlier you know you're walking

around a car meet and you're just shy and have you know don't really want to go up and talk to

anybody but then you know I think it helps you to like break out of that shyness and that introverted

ness even outside of the community and like into your everyday life like maybe if I say something

it'll be okay you know yeah well and I've never been like oh like I need to be like completely alone

to like fulfill to feel like full and everything like it's more of just like I like my my group my

people my whether it's like my close family or um right like the crowds and like the big groups

are always overwhelming but now I've found that like in the Subaru community too like we have um

like uh just a little west michigan like Subaru group chat that's like six of us that talk regularly

and we just like you know sometimes we give each other hard times sometimes we just check in sometimes

we share our problems sometimes we look out like it's just a little bit of everything and um

it's been that's been a really cool community um yeah and it's it's good to have that kind of a

small group that's really close like that because then like you said you can those are the people

that you can reach out to that if you're having a bad day you can be like hey man I'm not feeling so

good over here you know hope everybody else is doing okay and then you can kind of just be there

to support each other right everybody needs at least a handful of people like that but they

kind of just like go to yeah absolutely uh what is a favorite memory from your childhood

I was trying to think of a specific one but like I think I'm going to keep it vague and go

just like all the childhood camping I did and like the childhood like family vacations um

um a lot of them growing up um I was an only child and um with my parents it would just be

like the three of us and we'd load up the big old astro van and take the pop-up camper behind us

and that's the same pop-up camper that I use with my family now so oh nice with my parents so yeah

that has some like sentimental values there but um yeah um but so just drive it drive in cross

country with that or even just like different camp spots nearby um yeah just the family camping

nice yeah what is it well you you said that you're a teacher what is it you teach

yeah I taught um second and third grade for a long time but now I'm uh a social emotional

learning um coach so I work with like students and teachers okay so still work in elementary

school still consider myself like as a teacher still even teach small groups and things but

not look at my own specific class or many more nice do you have a dream job

yeah like honestly my dream job ever since I was like in elementary school was to be like

an elementary school principal which is you know kind of aligned not what I'm doing now but yeah

along that path um so like I'm I feel pretty like grateful that I'm living like pretty close to my

dream job um but you know I think people can have more than one dream right and oh yeah and change

as you get older I love the idea of retiring and owning a christmas tree farm oh nice that's like

that's like the big dream like that's like if I my more out there dream would be to own a christmas

tree farm yeah that's cool that was my first uh first job in like high school uh was working at

a christmas tree farm in the winters and a lot of good memories nice yeah that's good I know you

carry that kind of stuff with you and then it can impact your life later on yeah uh what is

something that makes you want to get out of bed every day I think well also sometimes they just

make me get out of bed but I was with my kids um but I but I do like I like to be up and like ready

to go before they're up and ready so that way I like I can help them get ready I can help them

start their day off so that's that's usually like what's motivating to me it's like ah I gotta get

up now because I'm getting them up in 15 minutes so like let's go so yeah that makes sense what is

something that makes you want to stay in bed out of all the questions I think this is the one I

struggled with the most I don't I'm I'm pretty much a morning person so like I'm not usually to like

five more minutes or um I'm usually ready to go if I had to pick something it would be maybe staying

up late too not too late the night before playing video games talking with my friends um yeah that

was a mistake but other than that yeah not too much yeah I I've been staying up a little too late

lately and not wanting to get up but uh I make myself get up because it's like I don't like sleeping

too late because I I want to have like more of the day available and especially since you know it

gets darker earlier that always sucks and uh I want there to be more daylight out there so that if

I end up you know needing to go somewhere I want to go outside for a walk or something I'd prefer

to go when it's still daylight yeah I have the curse of being like a morning person and a night

owl right me too man I'm very productive in the morning but I enjoy staying up late so that's not

always when I'm the most productive but seeing like for me I'm more productive in the evening

like I like during the day especially right now since I'm not really working I uh I just like

during the day I just kind of want to chill and relax and I mean it's not that I don't do anything

but like when I really want to start digging into something and like you know being productive

for like my little side hustles I'm doing I prefer to do that in the evening

all right hey there you are surprise so I'm gonna I gotta put that in the episode so we're sitting

here and and uh I thankfully I was talking but I was talking about you know being productive at

night and everything and all of a sudden you just disappear and then uh you message me and you're

like oh so sorry my computer just did an automatic restart yeah I um my computer apparently did not

want to be productive at night um so I know I know that like one Thursday a month it usually like at

least I thought it was Thursday like it like kicked on at midnight but apparently it happens

Wednesday at 9 57 I don't know it's funny that's definitely a first for the podcast okay well

look at that yeah groundbreaking 224 episodes now I mean connections have been lost before

but I don't think for that reason okay uh yeah okay so I was asking you what makes you want to

stay in bed and you know and I was saying that I stay up too late but what is something that

really scares you um so I mean this in kind of like a funny way but also like in a serious way

and I'll say like surprises um I don't like surprises in the form of like surprise parties

not a fan of surprise parties I don't like things jumping out at me I don't like like having a plan

and then like different things like you know going off the plan like so yeah like just surprises in

general and that can be like the big scary surprises that like yeah happen and but then also just like

the simple little like you know surprise party like yeah not my thing I know the the jump scares are

definitely uh my uh my girlfriend and her daughter do that to me all the time like I have like they

so in her house where her kitchen is she has like her guest bathroom or half bathroom kind of like

somewhat off the kitchen and there's times when I'll walk out of the bathroom and she'll be

hiding around the corner and she'll jump out you know like dang it got me again nothing's

more humbling than you know getting scared by a jump scare yeah yeah but it's funny cool and

collected and then I'm like yeah but it's it's funny it's all in good fun and like you know

she's always she's always trying to find some kind of a prank to pull on me and she and her

daughter have gotten some some pretty good pranks on me uh but uh so besides your family

and your Subaru like what is something that really excites you um I would say

I think like trying new things um and not even like new like new things but like even just experiencing

things in different way like going outside to this park you've never gone to or doing this thing

outside that you haven't done but um usually yeah if it involves outside and just like a new

experience I'm all about it yeah I there's been times where I will go somewhere that I've been

to before that I know how to get there but I will put in like especially if it's not somewhere too

far away because like if it's somewhere that's like an hour away or something I won't do this but

if it's somewhere that's like maybe like 30 minutes or less I might do this but I'll put in like avoid

tolls avoid highways and then just see like which way navigation takes me other than like you know

the feeder road of the highway because like that's basically taking the highway just going through

all the lights but I try to find like different routes um or like if I'm driving and it says like

you know alternate route this way or something a lot of times I'll take that just to see like

where it takes me uh because there's been a lot of times when I will go an alternate route

and see something that I never saw before that's like really cool and I'm like oh I'm glad that I

went this way that kind of turned out to be a pretty nice little detour yeah the other thing too is

like there have been times when me and my son are going somewhere and we will like I will miss a turn

or something or I'll miss an exit and then he just kind of looks over at me and shakes his head like

wow and but then we end up like you know the the alternate direction that we end up going we end

up seeing something cool and so you know I'll always tell him I'm like see if we hadn't missed our

exit or missed our turn we wouldn't have seen this cool area over here that we didn't even know existed

see that's what I gotta get a better about is accepting those like those like surprises or the

things that go off according to plan right like then I'm like okay like yeah see there was some good

that came from this right but yeah one of my friends said that he would go out with his kids

and especially if like if they were going out and driving through somewhere that they hadn't been to

before he would say he would have each of them take a turn of saying which way they wanted to turn

like okay at this next intersection you get to choose whether we go left right or straight

and then he said they would do that and like end up in some cool spots so we've done that

occasionally I did that with my mom growing up we would have like a bag of directions like in a

paper bag and we every time oh that's after a few miles or like after you know at an intersection

to be like all right what does this say and like you pull out I have the direction or thing yeah

that's cool do y'all ever play any like like so one of the things that we used to do we haven't

done it in a long time but we would play what we call the letter game where we would find a word

that starts with a and then we'd go through the alphabet yeah on anyway that we do that and like

then the bingo like we have a little like car bingo boy oh yeah that um so yeah those yeah we have

those five the different things yeah so and our rule is that like it has to be like on a sign it

can't be like on a car or something but then we've also done the car letter game like Acura BMW

Chevrolet you know and gone through the alphabet that way too I've done that game with my son

the car game and that that one's a fun one yeah I mean it's just something fun to pass the time

as you're taking a long road trip yeah uh so what would be your best bit of advice to give to someone

about anything who I think I'll say don't underestimate the power of the pause so I think pausing can be

really beneficial and like a lot of aspects of life so like pausing before you think and act

obviously but also pausing to like check in on yourself slow down listen to your body like

physically and emotionally I think just that like power of the pause thinking about like what is it

that I really want what am I trying to accomplish because sometimes we get I think everybody gets

moving just like too fast and don't take time to slow down yeah I mean I do that sometimes too or

I'm like I'll be like going going going and I'm like you know what just take a break it's okay to

not do this thing right now you don't have to get it done right now you can do it tomorrow it's going

to be okay and just take a step back and and relax a little bit but I think that's really important

for you know especially for people that are really busy like you got to take a break sometimes

yeah for sure so anything else you want to talk about with your car your Subaru journey or

stuff going on around there Subaru related yeah I had actually I had a few things I jotted down

that didn't come up and if you want to include them we can yeah of course but one of the cool

opportunities I had with my car was Olive got to be featured in a car commercial commercial nice

for Fram oil filters oh that's cool it was yeah they were the company they were working with like

kind of put a call out to I think their call was like looking for a camping ready Subaru or Mazda

right and nice so that like a little google form and submitted a picture of my car this was before

all the Jurassic Park stuff oh okay and then I like met with the production team and my car was

selected and I just dropped it off with them for a few days and then I met up with them got the car

back and it was in a commercial so that was kind of cool that is cool do you have a youtube video

for that um yeah I have I have a link I think it's in my bio on my Instagram page cool um

but um yeah so then there's every once in a while like if you're on like the Fram Instagram page

especially if you know to look like you'll see like pictures of them like having an oil filter

and I'll be like oh that's my car in the background or that's the cabin air filter from the inside of

my car like I can like I'll recognize like all these still shots they took so that was kind of a

cool thing and I'll see it pop up every once in a while like oh yeah that's cool um that was just

like this unique thing um that kind of came from just being a part of the community yeah someone

from a local group not a Subaru group but more of a Michigan um like off-road and camping group

mitten state tours um he kind of put the call out was like hey I know some of you have

Mazda's and Subaru's so fill this google form and that was like how I found out about that so

that's cool um yeah that was one of the cooler like opportunities that came from just the silly

Instagram account that I created yeah yeah I mean you never know what's gonna happen you know

it's just like there's there's opportunities just like like that that could potentially happen

but just opportunities to meet a lot more people too and make connections with people all over

the place for sure and then like those connections leads to other things and right like just that

power of connection is really cool yep um and the other like fun thing that um was able to do with

the car this summer when the new Jurassic World movie came out um I was able to partner with like

a local drive-in theater um up in northern Michigan near where we were camping and my car

got to be like featured at the drive-in theater and kids got to come up and take pictures with it

and it was cool it was cool to like connect with people in that way and be like yeah like check out

my silly car and there were a few people out there like oh I have a Subaru but it doesn't look like

that and I'm like I bet most of them don't but yeah no that's cool yeah I mean see that Jurassic

theme is working out for you man yeah it was it's again just all about the smiles yeah definitely

well cool man well thanks for taking the time to hop on the mic and chat and uh talk about

I really appreciate uh you taking the time and having me on it was great yeah absolutely

it's always fun to like just hear people's stories because everybody's story is different

even though you may have you know 20 people that drive an outback they're all going to be a little

bit different and everybody has different reasons reasons for buying one and different things that

they do with it so yeah I feel like um even like recently on your podcast you've had a couple green

outbacks um recently and they've all been very different different years different builds different

people and yeah yeah cool to see yeah well hope you have a good evening and uh we'll keep in touch

and uh we'll get this episode out in a few weeks sounds great can't wait man thank you so much

you're welcome hello everybody thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of the

subin you podcast and thank you so much Andrew for taking the time to record with me and sharing

it your Subaru journey if you're not doing so be sure to give him a follow it is all of the other

outback and there's an underscore under or between each of the words so be sure to go follow him

and check out his build and thank you all so much for continuing to tune in to the podcast and

listen to it it really means so much to me and I really appreciate everybody's support thank you

to so much to my patrons and my sponsors it's very very helpful and I really it really means a

lot and I really appreciate it so hope you all have a wonderful week we will see you next Monday

for another subi scoop and uh then another episode with a guest in a couple of weeks

so talk to you later much to be love raff the subin you podcast is hosted by Raphael and 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 subin you podcast wherever you listen to podcasts including apple

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you

About this episode

Andrew shares his Subaru journey, focusing on his experiences with two Outbacks. He highlights the safety and reliability of Subaru vehicles, especially after a serious rear-end collision totaled his first Outback but left his family unharmed. The episode also covers a recent Subaru meetup in Houston, community connections, and personal preferences like pancakes over waffles. Sponsors like A Centric Designs and Subaru Gear are mentioned, along with shoutouts to other Subaru-related podcasts and businesses. The conversation blends personal stories with Subaru culture and practical advice.

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Subaru Outback