S&YE229 - Silver Roo Offroad

Hey, my name is Chris Ingram and you can find me on Instagram under the handle SilverRoo

underscore off-road and you're listening to the Subi and You podcast, episode 229.

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Subi and You podcast.

I had Chris Ingram on as you just heard.

He goes by SilverRoo off-road as you also just heard.

One of the things that I really like about this episode is I was able to record this

episode in person, which is always a lot of fun and it's always different.

And with this one, I didn't have any questions prepared or anything.

So we just kind of went with it and I kind of like that style.

But we were this was on Sunday, the last day of Overland Expo West 2026 in Flagstaff,

Arizona. The event ends at three o'clock.

He was he was a booth car.

His car was in the booth and you have to keep it there until three o'clock.

So three o'clock hit.

We left.

We went to where Camp Subaru was where all the campers were.

And pretty much everybody cleared out.

But that gave us an opportunity to have some time away from everything and just

record and hang out.

And it was a lot of fun.

But in that intro, you could kind of hear some hissing in the background.

And it was that was the wind.

So it kind of adds to the experience.

Maybe it'll make you feel like you were there with us.

But it was really windy and the wind kept coming in and blowing.

But it was a lot of fun again, like I said.

And just nice to be able to see him in person, because I had met him at

Overland Expo in Colorado last year.

So it was great to be able to see him again.

And when I found out he was going to be up here, I said, dude,

let's just set some time aside and record a full episode.

So we did that.

But before we get into our conversation, Chris was also on the Dirt

Subis podcast previously and had a really good episode there.

So be sure to go check out the Dirt Subis podcast.

That's my buddy, Ben.

He's got a lot of good stuff going on with his podcast as well.

And getting some good episodes out there.

You could also check out the Wave podcast and a couple of guys over there

that are they are Subaru technicians.

And so it's really cool to hear their perspective.

And they're kind of funny.

They get into some funny conversations.

So go check out the Wave podcast with Patrick and Dave and see you.

See what they have going on, too.

But thank you so much for tuning in.

And now we're going to hear from one of our sponsors.

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When I was at Overland Expo West, I recorded a lot of video content,

which I didn't do last year.

And so I got some, I had,

I recorded a couple of segments up on the stage in the Subaru booth.

And then I recorded quite a few segments in the,

like at Camp Subaru, where all the campers were.

So I, I'm going to, oh, and then I did a,

I recorded a bunch of content on Thursday when we headed out with all the

campers to edge of the world.

So my goal and my thinking is to put out three separate YouTube videos.

So one for Thursday,

when we went out to edge of the world and just all the content from that.

And then another one with content from in the,

like the Subaru booth space.

And then another video from all of the conversations and

the video that I took at Camp Subaru,

because it was three separate spaces and I wanted to kind of separate those out.

I know that some people end up putting together, you know,

like chapters and everything,

but this is my first time recording this much video content.

And so I'm not a hundred percent sure exactly how to approach it.

But if you have any thoughts, if you, if you've done YouTube videos before,

I mean, cause this is, it's all from Overland Expo West 2026.

So I could put it together all as one video and then just have it flow into the

next thing and maybe do an intro and stuff. But I'm not really sure.

I thought maybe three separate videos for the event could be kind of cool.

But if you have any feedback, if you have any thoughts on that,

I would really appreciate it because again,

this is my first time recording this much video content and I'm not a hundred

percent sure the best way to approach it. But again,

my initial thoughts are three separate videos. So let me know if you have some

thoughts, please, please.

You can email me at subeandupodcast at gmail.com because if you message me through

Instagram, it's probably going to get buried somewhere cause I get a lot of

messages. So please, please email me if you have any thoughts. All right.

So of course there were more Overland Expo events coming up and then they,

we have, we also have Wicked Meat Boxer Fest and then the Sube Fest events,

which it seems like we just had those, but they're coming around again.

So there's no better way than to show up in style at one of these events with

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

bringing this great offer. We really, really appreciate it.

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get your gear and show up in style to all these events that are coming up.

Another great brand that has really great products is MeleeDesignFirm.com.

I have several of their products on my Subaru and my Cross Trek.

I have the battery box. I have the front strut tower brace.

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So, uh, that's like one of the places that may possibly get ignored,

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podcast. Really appreciate it. Love your products.

Go check out his episode two, his episode 40, where I talked to Mitch and it was a

really, really great conversation. So with all that being said,

we will get into this episode now with Chris Ingram and hear about his

Forester, which is a Forester sport and just a great conversation.

It was cool because we got to like walk around his rig.

I got to see it in person as I'm recording the episode and I don't get a chance to

do that very often. So that was really, really cool.

So thanks again, Chris, for chatting with me and being a guest on the episode.

So, uh, here we go.

All right. Welcome to the podcast, man.

Happy to be here.

Yeah. So it's great to see you again. I met you at Overland Expo,

at Loveland, Colorado last year. So it's great to connect with you again.

It was cool seeing your rig in the booth, which I think it was like a super cool

opportunity for you.

Absolutely. Absolutely.

So, uh, yeah. And what's cool too is we're recording this here at what was

Base Camp Camp Subaru for the whole event. They're closing it all down.

They're packing everything up. But, uh, yeah, I just thought while we're here,

I, we've talked about getting you on as a full episode.

And so I figured, you know, I'm not leaving until Monday.

You're not leaving until Monday. So let's take this opportunity to make it happen.

Yeah. It's a perfect setting. Granted,

we don't have all the decorations like there was before, but, uh, you know,

we have plenty of awesome trees and, uh, and a lot of wind, but we're making

do with that, the wind and the dust.

Yeah. So, uh, before we get into anything about your rig and,

in this whole like episode, I have to ask you the most important question,

whether you prefer waffles or pancakes.

So I know I'm going to ruffle your feathers or some others out there,

but I have to go with waffles and, uh, the main reasoning there is I love

the little pockets of, uh, of juice that you get to accumulate with

all the syrup and nice crispy edges with a soft center.

And no, I get that. I'm a waffle guy.

I mean, I like waffles, of course, but, you know,

pancakes just do it a little bit more for me.

I'll say this though, I didn't eat any waffles for breakfast

while the whole weekend. So it's just pancakes and a smile on my face still.

Oh, good. Good. All right. So, uh, it's great having you on here, Chris.

Great seeing you again. You know, so, uh, I guess like since we're here,

what was your, well, I kind of talked to you about that,

but we can do this on the, on the podcast too.

But like, what was your experience like with base camp as far as like camping?

Cause I know like over at the booth, they had like the little owner lounge

and this time they had it labeled as base camp and they didn't do that before.

So that's why it's kind of confused. So you have Camp Subaru,

which they also labeled base camp, but it's where we did all the eating,

camping and everything. And then you had the like booth, quote unquote,

booth space over there. Yeah.

So what was your impression of like this, this whole thing?

Yeah. So obviously last year, uh, at Overland Expo Mountain West,

I always get that confused because I call this one Expo West.

Yeah. So at Mountain West was my first experience, you know,

coming out with Subaru and, um, getting to experience it.

We were at Boyd Lake last year, um, which was awesome.

The setting is obviously, uh, you know, objectively a lot nicer here with all the trees

and specifically where we're at right now at the, uh, at the,

the Subaru base camp, like camping area where they had everybody, uh, very nice here.

They, I would say that they surpassed last year's and like the accommodations

and the vibes in the camp. I mean, I heard, I heard multiple times from other people that were

not a part of Subaru or just out in the Expo that they were like,

that word was getting around, that this was here and, and that, that this was going on.

And I think some people that were, that were not associated with Subaru,

you know, they made their way over here and checked it out because, uh,

the vibes as some people would say were immaculate, but yeah, they did a great job,

fantastic job. And same, same with the booth. The booth was, uh, it's impressive,

like what they can set up.

Yeah. What would you say, I guess would be your favorite part about the camping setup

and then your favorite part about the booth?

Yeah. So the camping setup, um, you know, I, I obviously, my car was in the booth,

so I didn't get to, to, to camp here with everybody. Um, but my favorite aspect I think was like, you

were coming into when you're pulling in, you know, they had the archway that said Subaru

Basecamp on it. They had multiple flat, big flags, um, you know, that said Subaru on it.

So right away you were kind of welcomed into this area and then it was like packed in here

with people not in a bad way, but like a good way. There was people everywhere under the,

under the trees and, and all their, all the different setups going on. And then they had a

very obvious, uh, kind of a group gathering area that was really well set up with plenty of chairs

the howl campfires, all the Devo slides just everywhere. Um, so camp was awesome. And then

the booth as well, showcasing all the Subaru manufactured, uh, vehicles and then, um,

the owner lounge, they had the accessory, uh, uh, I don't know what you would call them like stands.

So they had like actual gear that you would like go into a Subaru dealership and, and look at,

but it was like out there in the outdoor setting. So it was like kind of cool to see that, uh,

like in its natural setting, if you will. But, uh, yeah, I'd say like the, the settings like felt

very similar, um, inviting being the biggest thing. Yeah. So you think that's probably your

favorite thing is that this is so inviting. Yeah. It's definitely very inviting. I mean, like, again,

like, uh, hearing that some people in, in other industries made their way over because they

heard about it so much. And then, uh, you know, they walking them right in. They're like, Hey,

come on over and, uh, hang out. You can't come in. Yeah. You don't own a Subaru. You've got some

other shooting out in a way. Well, and hopefully, you know, hopefully some of these other, you know,

like brands or whatever that are camping out here have, you know, people camping at their

spaces. We'll take note of what we're doing here and be like, you know what, let's incorporate

some of that into our space. And yeah, because yeah, if other people are coming to check it out

and we're skating around and be like, Subaru's doing it right. Yeah. Definitely. I think you nailed

it on the head. And so like we're here at Overland Expo and that kind of invites, uh, in my opinion,

a lot of different, you know, you have a lot of people that are off-roading. Um, you have people

that are, I guess in the essence of the word, I know it's a hot topic, but true overlanders that

are internationally traveling and staying place in culture, but it all comes down to like,

you're outside in nature and for the most part, you're kind of camping and Subaru is doing just

that. They're inviting people to come out and camp and, uh, you know, um, they just, I feel like

they've really, uh, they've, they've captured the essence of like what the Overland Expo is

for that short weekend experience. You know, you're coming out here, you can literally buy gear

inside that Expo and then you can come and test it out that night. Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty cool.

Especially, you know, if you have room to like take stuff for you, because I know some people

are like, oh man, I really want this because well, it's really cool. Uh, if you're listening

and you've never been to an Expo, uh, one of the things that they do at the Expo is they have,

a lot of these brands will have discounts. So it's like basically like an Expo discount,

you know, like you can only get it for this price at this event. So I think that's a really

good incentive for people to come out to these events. Like if there's something that you're

looking for, if it's close enough that you can get to an event, you know, if you have the room to

take back whatever it may be, you know, you can save like, you know, a decent amount of money.

Yeah, totally. Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. Uh, the, I'd say, uh, one of the approaches I come,

I've found that I come to the Expo with is, uh, beforehand I'll come with like a little want list.

So I have a list of things that maybe I'm looking for. So that way it keeps me kind of on track.

Yeah. I don't, I try not to buy anything day one. I always try to wait for my purchases either

day two or even day three or the last day of the Expo, uh, for a couple of reasons. I think at that

point it, it shows that I truly want or need whatever that item is. Uh, and then sometimes

you'll find even better discounts because they're sitting there packing stuff up, not quite as many

people at the booths. And you might get to have a little bit more of an interaction with the, uh,

the owners or the, the, the employees of there and you kind of get a better deal.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Uh, before we go on anymore, I want to, you know, we've mentioned

this brand quite a few times, but I want to give a huge shout out to Subaru for putting this together

for the owners, you know, for people that love these cars and huge shout out to Joe from Subaru,

huge shout out to Dan and Sean from Rune Management, huge shout out to Emily from

do yoga outside, who was our camp host. And I know there's a lot of other people who, who

shout out to Josh from, uh, off-road ruse who did the off-road excursion on Thursday. And I know

there were a lot of other people that were involved that I, you know, I can't, you meet so many

people. It's hard to remember everybody's names, but there was Fred and Grace over there at the

Subaru booth and just like so many wonderful people that were involved in putting all of this

together, not, not just from planning it, but even the people putting in the physical labor to

put all this stuff together, like you even mentioned, you wanted to maybe connect with Dan and see if

you could come help set up earlier, you know, and, and like be a part of that. So it's just, it's

such a, I know there's a lot to do there. Cause like there's so much they have to, they have to

build it and put it all together. Yeah. I mean, just the logistics alone, I can't imagine there's

so much stuff happening behind the scenes. It's, it's wild. Yeah. A lot of hard work.

So now we'll go ahead and get into like your build and your Subaru journey. And then like also

this is kind of fun and interesting for me because usually prior to an episode, I'll put

together questions, you know, and I kind of feel a little prepared, but I know that you've been on

the Dirt Subis podcast and he kind of does it like off the hip, you know, he doesn't come up with

any questions and he just goes with it and it's kind of a flow. And for me, like being able to

do it in person, it's, it seems a little bit more natural for me. And I've been doing this long

enough that I kind of know the questions I want to ask, but so I know that from talking to you

before that this isn't your first Subaru. So what was your first Subaru? Yeah. So my first Subaru

was a, uh, it was a 2004 WRX wagon. Yeah. And very much like this one, it was bone stock when I

got it. Yeah. But this one's definitely not bone stock anymore. It's not bone stock anymore. Yeah.

Yeah. You know, and, uh, because it was turbo, it was a manual. Yeah. I was in my early 20s.

Danger. It got, yeah, it got all the big stuff. And, uh, um, yeah, I mean,

started upgrading that right away and, uh, modified it more of a definitely more in the sports car,

kind of route. At that time, I wasn't doing a ton of off-roading quite yet. I did eventually do

get into off-roading with the wagon, but that came a little bit after I started like doing

a bunch of engine mods. Uh, yeah. You know, I, there's a whole list, bigger turbo. I did injectors,

full catalyst exhaust, everywhere. Um, it had cams in it. So the thing was like idling like a hot rod.

It sounded super cool. Nice. But yeah, yeah, the WRX wagon was my first, uh, that was my first vehicle.

Yeah. Nice. And I, and I loved it. I still miss it, but I did blow the motor three times.

And while we're sitting here being that we're outside, uh, you could probably, these mics

were probably picking up the wind blowing through the trees because it gets pretty hard at times.

Yeah. Yeah. So like, where did your interest in Subaru come from in the first place?

Very, I can very vividly remember watching Colin McCray and all his, uh, rally racing endeavors

as well as, um, the, I believe that there was a classic scene in, uh, he was in X, X games,

uh, the, the, what, were they called it rally cross? I think at the time when he rolled it.

Yeah. And he was shifting it into first gear while he was still upside down,

getting ready to land, land on all four tires. He was already thinking about what his next move was,

but it was seeing that, that rally car, hearing the boxer motor, that, that subi rumble,

it just, I'm a big, big audio guy. I love noises like lightning and thunder is like my favorite

noise in the whole world. Yeah. And wind, plenty of wind on the mics. So rally racing, I think,

is what really kind of got me thinking about Subaru's and, and, and the rumble and the sound of

that, the Subaru's and their unequal length headers make, uh, that just, that drove me and, um, got

me to start looking into them and then, and then everything else came with it. So, yeah. So when

you didn't end up having your WRX wagon anymore, like was it because you blew that last engine or

what, what got you out of it and into something else? Yeah. So, um, three, yeah, three motors that

I blew, uh, the last time that it happened was, uh, I was coming, uh, I had been living in Colorado

at the time, probably only a year. So I, I can't really remember, but I was going back to San Diego

where I'm, uh, originally from with my brother on a road trip and, um, the, the motor blew again

when I was in San Diego. Oh man. I spent the whole vacation that I would had planned to do all this

stuff, uh, in my, uh, childhood home in the garage, uh, which is actually the first time a car had

ever been in our garage, believe it or not. Um, it was to fix the Subaru. So I, I just spent the

whole vacation, um, taking the fuel pump out, changing spark plugs. I did a compression check.

I was trying to diagnose the thing, try to figure out what was going on, but realizing it was the

third time that I'd done it and not, um, and I say this with confidence, it was not Subaru's fault.

I mean, I was young and heavily modifying stuff. And you know, you run into that with just about

anything and not driving it nice, you know, driving it spiritedly and, um, enjoying it,

enjoying it. Yeah. Yeah. With a huge ear to ear grin every time I drove the thing. Um, but it just

came to a point where it was, uh, the third time that that had happened. Um, we had actually taken

it to a shop in Temecula that was, uh, I can't remember their name, but they were a very well

known Subaru shop at the time. They threw it on a dyno. Uh, it got, it got towed to that shop. I'll

say, uh, and they were like, Hey, you bent valves or something had catastrophically gone wrong.

And so the car was essentially dead in the water. So I had some money saved aside from, uh,

while land firefighting at the time. Um, and I was at that time getting more and more into

off-roading and, uh, started to get my eyes set on a Tacoma. So I ended up buying a Tacoma out

there on that trip. My first like newish vehicle to me. And that's how I ended up in a Tacoma.

So I got a third gen, third gen tan Tacoma. Okay. And then, so I know that you started outfitting

that to go like on, you know, exploration trips, I guess we can call them in front of trying to

figure out ways to sleep in it. Can't, you know, stuff like that. So, you know, we don't, we don't

really need to get into that, but like what led you from going from, cause you're after your Tacoma

was your, your, um, Forester sport, right? So what led you from going, let me start that again.

What led you going from your Tacoma into the Forester?

Yeah. So, um, had the Tacoma for about, about five years, um, had a lot of fun with it, uh,

ended up getting, uh, re-ended and it ended up getting totaled. Um, and the way that that all

happened was, uh, someone re-ended, uh, someone that was behind me. Um, and essentially the,

the insure, and they did, and the person that caused the accident didn't have, uh, insurance.

So what little, yeah, what little insurance had to be divvied out between the other vehicles.

So, uh, long story short, they didn't give me a squat. I couldn't replace the Tacoma, essentially.

With being in Colorado, you know, you pay kind of a Colorado tax if you want Tacoma. So they're,

they're up, you know, people are selling them for a lot. So, um, that alone just kind of made me

start to rethink about what I was doing. At the time, I was, um, working at a previous, uh,

another fire department, uh, other than the one that I'm currently at, and I've been running a

side business, uh, doing drone videography and photography. And, uh-

Yeah, you were telling me about that earlier, and we kind of got into that conversation just

based on a previous conversation talking about, like, just doing content creation and

all this stuff. So that's, like, really interesting.

Yeah, so I was doing that on my, uh, on my four days. We like to call it in the, uh,

the fire industry, uh, because I work two days on, four days off every week, all year long.

Yeah.

And so plenty of time to start a side, side business.

Yeah.

And one that will take you all across the state and into many other states. So I was driving the

Tacoma all over the place, and I was still doing that when I got into the accident. And so I was

like, you know what, maybe I should get something more fuel efficient, but something that I can still

sleep in and something that I can still off-road in. So that led me to start thinking,

man, why don't I look at some kind of SUV? I looked at a RAV fours for about 10 minutes

on my phone and then thought, no, I think a four-ster is what I want.

My girlfriend at the time had a, had a Subaru. My dad has a, uh, a WRX. Can't remember the year.

Okay.

Um, it's a newer one. Um, uh, I remembered all the times that I had with my previous Subaru,

aside from the motor stuff that I did with it, it was a very reliable vehicle in every other regard

and so much fun. So I thought, you know what, why don't I look and do a four-ster?

So was the four-ster like the first thing that came to mind or did you even consider the outback?

Because the outback can, you know, it provides more space as far as like the volume in the back

and sleeping and storage and a lot of kind of stuff. Or like what, what attracted you specifically

to the four-ster?

You know, um, my gut tells me that the first thing was the looks. I really like the, um, kind of the

compact, um, look and the body styling of the four-ster and, uh, I found out that they still

call it a wagon and because I had a WRX wagon, I was like, you know what, I kind of want to stick

to the wagon body style, if you will. I don't, I don't know if they in the industry still call it

that, but I know, uh, when I looked up on the chart, the SK was considered a wagon. So, um, yeah,

a lot of the looks was my driving force, I think, towards it.

And you'd had a Subaru before. So like you mentioned earlier, the reliability, you know,

the fun that you had with it, you already know the off-road capabilities and so what year is yours

and did you buy it new?

Yeah. So this is a 2021, uh, did not buy it new. I bought it with, um, it was used. It was a,

uh, I was told it was a lease before I got it. Okay. Um, it had 30,

like 30,500 miles on it. So about, let's just say 31,000 miles. Okay. So when you bought it, I mean,

obviously you were doing a lot of the stuff with Tacoma. So I'm sure you probably went into it

with all these thoughts of like, okay, how can I outfit this to fit me? And then I'm guessing

you probably had some of the things from the Tacoma that you could use and reuse for the

forester. So like, what were some of those things that you were able to reuse?

Yeah. So a lot of, um, you know, a lot of the little, uh, supporting, um, items, uh,

that I took from the Tacoma were like the road of packs, the water port, um, the max tracks that I

have, um, all the, all the regular, like camping equipment, um, was pretty much came right from

the Tacoma. Uh, some of the lights I had, uh, from the Tacoma before, um, and, um, a lot of the

bedding material is all stuff that I came from the Tacoma. But yeah, for the most part, other

than that, it was, um, it was kind of like a fresh canvas, if you will, which was actually like really

fun. And I think it worked out. It made it more enjoyable because it just kind of built over time.

Yeah. You could start fresh with it and then just be like, kind of have this vision of where you

wanted to go with it. But like, what was the first like actual modification that you did too?

Oh man. Uh, think about that one. Well, I would say the, the first thing was tires.

Okay. I, I, I learned that from the Tacoma, what the, the most, uh, bang for your buck, uh, thing in

the off road, um, side of things was having good tires. Yeah. Um, in my personal, uh, experience,

I didn't start with very good tires. I did go to, um,

On the Tacoma, you mean? Uh, no, with the Forester. Yeah. Uh, I wanted to put general

grabbers on this, um, which is what I had on Tacoma before, but they didn't have them in the

size that I was looking for. Okay. Um, so, um, I got some, uh, a set of Falcon trails. Okay. And

I don't know if it's just the, the, I won't say it was so much the tires were no good by any means.

I just had more punctures with them than any other tire before. Wow. And I don't know if, um, you

know, it could just be a fluke, but I do not remember having that much, uh, that many issues

with general grabbers or KO2s, which both I had used previously on the, on the Tacoma. So the

Falcons didn't last long. I went right, right to KO2s. So, so when you bought the Falcons,

did you put them on the OEM wheels? Yeah. Okay. Yep. They were on the OEM wheels. Uh, so those

were also, geez, I can't remember actually. I think they were 18 inch wheels, OEM. Okay. Um,

I could be mistaken. All right. But don't call me on that. So when you got the KO2s,

did you put them on the OEM wheels also, or did you upgrade the wheels at that time?

No. So at the same time, um, I, I managed to, and I still call it one of the best market,

Facebook marketplace finds ever. Uh, I found these LP ones, uh, actually in Denver, and I'm

pretty sure they were actually came from Robert champion. Um, I tried reaching out to him to

see it, say, Hey, I think I bought your wheels. Yeah. Um, that you're selling. Uh, but yeah,

I found these on Facebook marketplace for a screaming deal. Nice. So I ended up getting these

wheels. All five? Uh, no, I got four. Um, and then once later, when I had had the swing out,

I was reached out to a LP adventure and they gave me a little bit of a deal, um, on that, uh,

fifth wheel. That's cool. So naturally put a, uh, another KO2 on that. So we have the full size

spare in it at all times. So do you, um, with your full time spare or your full size spare,

do you rotate it through when you get your tires rotated or you just leave it back there all the

time? Yeah. You know, I know. So right now, currently before on the previous set, because

I'm now on my second set of KO2s, uh, since I got the car previously, yes, I would rotate it

through, but since the one that's on the spare now has a little bit of wear on it, I'm going to

probably wait a little bit before I start rotating it in. But yeah, I do usually try to rotate it

in. So that way at least when a, when I do get a flat, um, all the tread, uh, the depths are all

the same. Yeah. I did that with my first set of Toyos. And then when I got my second set,

I kept like meaning to go do it, but I think part of the problem with me is it's up on the roof and

like it's kind of a pain to get off. I have to like clear out the back to make sure I can put it

in there because I don't want them to mess with doing it. You know, I want them to be able to

just grab it out of the back and do it. And so I, the first time I went to go get my tires rotated,

I didn't do it. And I was thinking, maybe I'll just do it on the next time. Cause you know,

it, it, they'll still have a decent amount of wear or a tread on them. And then I just never

did it. So, and now I have the, um, now I have the, uh, Milestar Patagonia's, but I only bought

four because I have, I still have a full size spare, um, uh, Toyo up there. And I'm like,

I'm just going to keep that until I can go back and get another Patagonia and put it up there,

you know, getting out there. Nothing wrong with that. Cause I was going to try to see if I could

get like a credit or something for that, that Toyo, but it's past the like expiration date or

whatever they have. And so they're like, we would just have to throw it away or recycle it or something.

So I might see if like somebody needs a full size spare that already has a set of Toyos.

Cause I know it's still a good tire. It's not, I think they say like, if it's 10 years or older,

then you know, you probably want to look at, you know, getting it replaced, but it's only,

it's only like three years old, you know? Yeah. So, and somebody could like, you know, I'd

of course look at it, make sure it doesn't look too bad. But yeah. So like, what were some of

the next modifications you started doing after the, you know, getting the wheels and tires on?

Yeah. So I think, um, I think after the wheels and tires, it kind of came, I think for a little

while I started to put a lot more of the, um, organ, started to approach a little bit of the

organizational stuff on the inside, because right away I was sleeping on the inside of it.

And, um, even up until today, uh, and the rest of this trip from expo, I'm still sleeping inside

of it. It's all about to change soon. You're just in a few weeks. Um, yeah. So it kind of got into

the organizational side of it. Uh, I picked up a roof basket at one point. So then I could

put an awning on top of it because I definitely appreciate the shade. Um, yeah, it's kind of

hard to, it's kind of hard to think back like where I started at. Well, then you can go into

like what you have now because, um, I know one of the last year when I met you at Loveland,

one of the most recent upgrades that you had, and I don't know how recent it was, was the Sherpa rack.

Yeah. Yeah. The Sherpa rack is, um, very, um, very, first of all, very grateful to have that

Sherpa rack on there. Um, full disclaimer, you know, Sherpa gave me that rack shortly before

that expo. It was, uh, um, like one of the first production forester racks out there. Um, and, uh,

I literally had a print suit on there before I uninstalled that and swapped that out the day

before the expo. Oh, yeah. I remember that correctly. But, um, yeah, I happened to live

up the street from them. Yeah. That's, that's what's really cool is it's, it's very convenient for

you to be able to just go by the shop and, you know, talk to them. And so convenience really

worked out well for you. Yeah. Definitely. Being so close. Yeah. I'd been going there, uh, you

know, back when I had the Tacoma buying some little mounts and stuff from them then. So I'd

known them a little bit through that, but, uh, really got to know them a lot more with the

Subaru because at the time they were also launching their Subaru rex. Yep. Uh, so it kind

of worked out really well. Yeah. So, you know, shout out to, uh, Alex and everybody else at the

Sherpa team. Absolutely. Absolutely. Amazing people. Yeah. And that was cool because, uh,

you know, I saw your rack and then I know that Milton and Kerry have their racks on their cars.

Yeah. Yep. And then, um, so like they introduced me to Alex and I can't remember who else was

out there at, at Loveland, but got to talk to them, had them on the mic a little bit for the,

you know, bonus episode from that event and then eventually got them on the podcast. Uh,

I think it was like right after they did the Subaru launch. It was like perfect timing.

Yeah. Yeah. But super great guys. Yeah. And I went to their, did you go there after party?

I didn't. I didn't go there. Yeah. So they're after party, I'd get there. And the first thing I see

is, I think it was Alex up on this scissor lift, like way up in the air with a megaphone. And I

think there was somebody else up there with him too, because it may have been. Yeah. So like somebody

was doing an announcement and the other person was throwing out like t-shirts and stuff, but they

were doing giveaways and Kerry ended up winning a giveaway for a free rack. So that was like,

it was, I walk up and I'm like, this is just like the coolest thing ever. Like these guys have,

there was tons of people there. They had like food truck vendors. I'm like,

these guys are like just doing it up. Like they're just having fun. You know, I know they

worked really hard and they've, you know, they've had to move shops and everything, but I'm like,

these guys are having fun doing what they're doing, what they do, you know? Yeah. Absolutely. And

uh, and every year and uh, it's usually like September, August, they have what's called the

Sherpa summit in a Taylor, Taylor Park, Colorado. And it is almost identical to that experience.

I went out for them a first time last year and you don't have to have a Sherpa rack

to go there. You know, they're just inviting, you know, they do charge a ticket because they've

got to lease the land out. It's a huge plot of land, but man, they were slinging racks left and

right out there. They were, they were giving away so much cool stuff. So if you thought that was

cool, then throwing off, go to the Sherpa summit. They'll uh, not literally throw the racks.

Catch this. They gave away a lot of free racks that, that uh, at that event. It was cool. They're

very, very generous people, very approachable, very cool. So since we're sitting here in front

of your car, it looks like you have some lights uh, right here kind of nestled in the rack. So

talk about what those are. Yeah. So I have some Baja design uh, lights that are uh, kind of uh,

cleverly integrated uh, into the roof rails of their rack. Um, and it's like kind of in the

grab handle. So they're not like protruding from the top of the rack. They're kind of flushing out

of the way and I use those for uh, they're individually controlled right and left and I

kind of use them as like scene lighting for camp and um, uh, just anytime I need to get a little

bit of flood light on one side of the vehicle. Um, and so yeah, yeah, I've got lights kind of,

not too many lights on this thing. I try to keep it to the minimum and, and keep it to

pretty much exactly uh, just like what I need and what I find that uh, is useful.

And then you also have this water port on there too, which is cool. So uh, how long have you had

that on there? Yeah. So the water port, uh, the water port's been on there ever since I got the

window panels. Uh, it used to be mounted on top of the rack, but once I got the uh, window panels

that are also, also made by Sherpa, um, it just seemed like a much more convenient place for the

water port to be uh, to kind of live full time when it's uh, in the camping mode, if you will.

Yeah. Um, and that becomes kind of my outdoor shower area and probably most, most often I'm

using that to wash dishes so I can pressurize it and then I uh, you know, spray power. Yeah,

exactly. Get a little bit of pressurized water, helps get all the food off, all the stuff,

fill up bins real quick. So is it, I mean, it's, how many gallons is it? Um, I think it's five,

I think it's five gallons. Okay. And I mean, does it last a pretty decent amount of time?

Yeah. I didn't even fill it up all the way, uh, before the Expo and I still have water in it now.

Nice. Um, so what have you used it for here? So here I've actually used it to wash my hands a

lot because uh, here at the Expo, we have porta-potties and back in the, my wildland days,

we used to call it the blue room flu. Yeah. And uh, super easy to get sick from people. So I don't

always trust that hand sanitizer that's uh, in there. So I've washed my hands a lot. Well, and

they have those hand washing stations and, which is good, but a lot of times you'll go over there

and there's no water, there's no soap. Exactly. So I, I, I'm the same way. I try to wash my hands

as often as I can. So um, blue water flew off to remember that. And I, I think that, you know,

maybe something that would be good for Subaru, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna talk to them about this,

but maybe at the next, um, Expo, maybe they provide a hand washing station to be like, hey,

right? Yeah. You're coming through, you know, you need to wash, especially people that are working

at the booth because you're walking around shaking hands and stuff. That might be a good idea for

them to have, you know, their own little area where you can wash your hands. Definitely. Yeah.

Back when I was doing wildland uh, firefighting with the Forest Service, when we get on really

big campaign fires and they set up a whole camp set, um, camp area, uh, for, you know,

hundreds and hundreds of different, uh, resources, uh, they'll bring, inevitably bring

porta-potties and inevitably if once you're there, you know, after about two weeks, uh,

there's a, the flu and the sickness starts going around and it's a result of all that.

Yeah. Also like, you know, we're walking around. Yeah. You've got some ditch lights right here,

which, uh, I know you're a fan of these guys, but let us know like what you've got here on the hood.

Yeah. So on the hood, um, uh, for my ditch lights, I'm running the Baja Designs, uh, Squadrons.

Um, just been a big Baja Design fan since I was a kid, honestly, um, because, uh,

living in San Diego, we were super close to the desert and I grew up riding dirt bikes and, um,

seeing trophy trucks and inevitably, uh, you know, hearing all about the Baja 1000,

I just always saw the Baja Designs logo and, uh, so just went with the Baja Designs, uh,

honestly, purely because of the logo. Yeah. But they're, they're very solid lights, um,

using those as my ditch lights. Uh, it is a cool logo. On top of the, on top of the roof rack,

I do have a, uh, a light bar. It's made by Last Fit. It's, uh, kind of like one of those

companies off, uh, Amazon, uh, not super well known, but I found that it actually has worked

really well. I don't use my light bar all that much. Um, but I will say that, uh, for the price

that I paid for it, it works out really fantastic. Um, the first one that I had did get condensation

issues, uh, tried to try to fix it. They, uh, they were actually super, they communicated super

quick. Um, told me that there was a little, uh, screw that you take out of it and then you run

the light and it bakes the condensation. I put the screw back in. I tried that. It didn't work,

told them about it. Uh, three days later, they had sent me a whole new light bar and I have not

had that, that light bar has been on there ever since the last expo, uh, almost a year ago now.

Yeah. And it, no issues. Runs good. Do you get a lot, well, do you get a lot of rain where you're at?

Yeah. In spurts in Colorado usually. And if it is raining, it's usually coming down hard.

Yeah. Well, I was just wondering because like in Houston, we get a lot of, a lot of rain too. And

I've always wanted a light bar for my car. I don't necessarily need one. However, it would come in

handy when we go to, um, cheeseburger loop. Yeah. I've always wanted to drive cheeseburger loop

at night, but I don't have a lot of lighting. I have my headlights, which are LED now,

so they do put out a lot more light. I have, uh, fog lights with that are a combo. And then I have

ditch lights with that are a combo. And I've always wanted to drive through there just to like,

see how, what I have already lights it up. See how well it works. Yeah. But I want to go with

other people, you know? Yeah, definitely. Also, it looks like you have some suspension parts in

here. So what do you have going on in here? So we're running, uh, rally tech springs, uh,

and they're strut spacers as well as their subframe drop kit to kind of keep everything happy. Um,

upfront is their sport spring and a two inch spacer in the rear. We're using their overload

spring for the Forester and a 2.5 inch strut spacer. Oh, nice. So I put the overload in the rear

because we're obviously running a lot of weight. I've got the, the swing out, the spare tire, uh,

and a full slide out in the back that stores a lot of equipment. So there's, yeah, a lot of

weight that the rear needs to support. Let's open up the back and we can talk about that. Yeah.

Everybody will know this sound.

So yeah, here we're, we're looking in the back end of the Forester and, um, I have my, uh,

my slide out. It's made by wheels and feels. Um, it, it does like all the, uh, like most slide

outs, uh, it slides out and you can kind of organize your gear and, uh, set all the equipment up

all the way that you want. But the really big selling point for this one over a lot of other

things that I saw that solved like probably my number one issue that I had with this vehicle

was accessing the spare tire storage. So obviously with my full size spare, I don't,

I can't put it down there. It doesn't fit, which in my case works out great cause that just means

more storage. With this slide out, I can just slide the top here and very easily access everything

down there. Okay. Yeah. I heard you talking about that earlier, but I didn't really understand

what you meant, but yeah. So this is it. Uh, just as simple. So we keep, uh, I keep my compressor

down there, my, uh, scissor jack. I have recovery strap, my stove, my wash basin, a couple floor

mats. I have a, uh, a camp fire, a propane fire torch down there. So it's kind of get the camp

vibes and, um, a little bag with some, uh, ratchet straps and stuff that I keep down there at all

times. Very nice. And then you've got some like storage back here on the, on the back of your

seats. And then you've got this like, so what, tell me about this, um, ceiling rack here. Yeah. So,

um, up here on the ceiling, I have the, uh, Anderson design and fabrication, uh, moley panel,

which kind of takes up the rear passenger, uh, uh, grab handles. And so that thing just goes

across and, uh, in it, I store all my dry food. Uh, so like my, uh, mountain houses, if you will.

So like, if I don't feel like cooking for whatever reason, I grab those as well as I'll keep my

camera up there, a couple more lights, and then I've got an electronics bag and a toiletry bag.

So I'll toilet paper and hand washing stuff. And then off of that, going towards the back,

I kind of, uh, Jerry rigged a couple of different, uh, pieces. I have a little bit of netting that

I bought off Amazon, uh, that I extended off the back of the rack. And then I grabbed another

canvas, uh, I don't know what you would call that, like a kind of a canvas net also that I kind of

extended off of that webbing that then goes to hooks to the back of the hatch. And then so up in

that is where I keep all my bedding. So my sleeping bag, my blanket, um, a puffy jacket,

a rain jacket, my pillow, a bunch of soft goods. So kind of like for all the sleeping setup.

All right. So also if you're listening to this, uh, you know, we're describing all these things

and obviously you can't see it. Uh, it's not like a YouTube video where we'd be going around

showing all these things as we're talking about them, but I am taking a lot of photos

that I'm going to put together as a real on my Instagram page. So if you go to a Subi and you

podcast on Instagram, you can see photos of all the things that we're talking about. So I think

that's pretty cool. And this is another great opportunity to record in person because I can

take pictures as we're talking about this stuff. Yeah, probably makes it a lot easier. Yeah. So

as far as like, you know, you said you lived in San Diego, now you're in Colorado, right?

Yeah. So, um, what kind of things do you enjoy doing with your, you know, now that you have it

outfitted for doing like long trips, overnight trips, you can sleep in it and everything. You're

obviously using the LUNO mattress, but like, what are the kinds of things that you enjoy doing with

your forester? Yeah. So, you know, when it comes down to it, uh, it's like, I like to think of it

as like my adventure vehicle. So, um, I very much enjoy exploring new areas and, um, I, I feel

pretty strongly like to, about that, you know, to get to know and really find out about an area

and like really enjoy it. You need to be there for a while, you know, and kind of get into it. And

that means either maybe bringing a bike with you or, um, bringing fly fishing equipment or

whatever kind of fishing equipment, like kind of explore the area, dive into it. So I like being

able to bring all those activities with me, um, as well as I like knowing that the, that the Subaru

is, you know, the way that I've built it is, uh, it can kind of sustain me in those areas for several

days. So I can kind of, uh, very self-sufficient. Yeah. Very, uh, try to keep it as self-sufficient

as possible. So not, not so you can just survive the trip, but you can thrive. Yeah. You know,

you can actually like really enjoy, you can, you have a place you can come back to and you have

all the little creature comforts. You know, I've done my time of, uh, sleeping on the ground and

a sleeping bag back when I was doing wildland fire stuff. Uh, I'm kind of over those days and,

you know, uh, sleeping inside of it's been great, but I very much like to,

I love picking up the BDRs and, and exploring those and spending several days on a trail.

So what is, what is a BDR? So the BDR is a back country discovery route. Okay. Um,

and they were kind of, uh, pioneered, if you will, by a bunch of, uh, adventure bike riders.

Okay. And they are routes that, uh, typically traverse, uh, a lot of the states, uh, north

to south or south to north, whichever way you want to go. Yeah. Um, but they're very much, uh,

primarily dirt roads and back county roads. There, there are some pavement sections that you kind

of will go into some towns, perfect resupply points, but for the most part they're, uh,

you know, four wheel drive or not, sorry, not four by four, but there are, uh,

they're like off road, uh, trails and stuff that you'll, that you'll connect. So you're,

you're kind of away from, uh, towns primarily and you're kind of in the, in the back country,

if you will. And, um, uh, I think those are awesome, very accessible thing. And most people,

they have them in most states. So a lot of people can just look up on back country discovery,

uh, routes.com, I believe it is. Um, and, uh, find the route in their state and then just

start going and exploring. And usually they take several days to complete. So.

Yeah. Uh, so how many days do you usually go out for? I mean, I'm sure it probably varies,

but like, what would you say is like the longest amount of time that you've been out?

The longest that I've been out is, uh, a little over a week. Uh, if I can remember off the top

of my head, uh, typically it's about, you know, two to three days if I'm being honest,

because you're 44 days off, two days on. Yeah. Yeah. So with it's still a lot of time off,

but I still have to, you know, to, unless I want to get more time off, I have to kind of trade a

shift. But the, the, the nice thing about it is that, um, you know, those days off are very

consistent. They're, they're every week. So I can put in a two or three day or, um, even just an

overnighter in almost every week. So, um, the frequency is, is a lot, but, um, we're, we're

pushing to do a lot more longer duration stuff as I get a little bit more ambitious with what I

want to do with the vehicle. So. Yeah. So being that, you know, you have four days off that you

have to kind of figure out, okay, where can I go within the amount of time? Like as far as like

getting there, being there, and then coming back. So like, how do you go about mapping that out?

And, and like, what is the furthest distance that you will say that you would travel before

you're like, okay, that's a little too far. Yeah. I don't, uh, so right off the bat, I, I use Onyx

Off-Road almost solely, uh, to find, to find, uh, inspiration for, uh, areas that I want to go check

out. Um, and as well as using their route building feature is just super, super cool. So you can

link, you know, they'll, they'll show you all the trails in an area and then you can literally

build and link your route. So you could even make your own backcountry discovery route if

you really wanted to. Yeah. So I use that as, uh, kind of my primary, uh, inspiration of like kind

of where to go and, and when I get there, where am I going to, you know, explore a little bit?

Um, but as far as like how far I'll go, uh, nothing's really off the table. It just comes down to,

you know, if I can get the time, um, if I can bring the, the girlfriend along with me and keep

her happy because she doesn't like, uh, she doesn't like as long of a trail hours as I do. So it's

usually a, hey, let's camp one night and then let's do an Airbnb one night. And, uh, that's how we

kind of stretch out the miles. Okay. Uh, so whenever you're going out on these trips,

are you trying to find a new place every time to explore that you haven't been to before?

Yeah, ideally I love, um, I definitely love trying to find new spots and, um, you know,

I definitely have places that I will kind of come back to just because, uh, they're, they're just

insanely beautiful or maybe it's a very cool lake or the driving experience like the trail itself

is super fun. Uh, but I'd say more often than not, I am trying to find new places, uh, trying to

keep it fresh. Yeah. And then are there places that you've been to that you're like, this place is

just so awesome. I have to keep coming back. Yeah. Walden sand dunes is actually a place that I've

gone, uh, quite a few times and, uh, that's out in, uh, just outside of actually Walden, Colorado.

Okay. Um, it's, I'd say it's only about a three hour drive from my house, but you can drive on the

dunes and you can camp, uh, you can pretty much camp on the dunes too. Okay. Which, uh, there's,

it's the only place I can think of, uh, that's really close to me. The great sand dunes is near

me. The, uh, it's in there. National Park. Yeah. But you can't camp, uh, or drive on the dunes. Yeah.

But out in Walden you can. And, uh, I've gone out there a couple of times and practice actually

some recovery stuff, purposely getting stuck. And yeah, that's gotta be fun though. It was a lot

of fun. And I usually, uh, I usually go out with a co-worker and good buddy of mine, uh, and he's

in a second gen to come up. Yeah. Crap. Now what am I going to do? I've put, I've pulled him out of

the snow out of there because, uh, in the winter, obviously it snows out there and, um, uh, he got

stuck one time and got to pull him out in the Subaru. And, uh, the funny thing is he returned

the favor not too long after that, pulling me out. So. Yeah. Uh, so like, let's say you're,

you're mapping out a route that you want to go to and, you know, you, you get out there

once you're there, like what kind of activities do you do? Yeah. So I guess it kind of all depends

on the trip. Uh, I'll kind of look ahead of time and, and, you know, figure out what, whether it's,

hey, you know, this trip, let's do some mountain biking because there's plenty of mountain biking

trails or, hey, we're really close to a river. So maybe we'll do some, uh,

you know, some fishing. Um, I'd say more often than not, uh, the thing that I'm all, almost

always interested in is, uh, photography. So I will, and, and the, the geographic, uh, coolness

of the area is what will almost always inspire me. And so it's almost always going to be like,

I'm there and I want to like really experience the area and I want to photograph it and, uh,

in the most beautiful settings as possible. And so that means, you know, camping there,

you get to be there early in the morning and that nice morning light.

And then you also get to be there in the evening and the nice evening light, kind of like right

now with the sun starting to get low and these, uh, trees here in the, in the forest in Arizona.

And it's starting to kind of filter its way through all the ponderosa's and kind of like this whole

area up in a nice little gold light. But it's those things that I, uh, the photography is a,

is a big one, but usually it's, uh, other than that, a lot of mountain biking.

Yeah. Maybe some trail running. Do you have a photography page?

Um, or is it just all for you? Yeah, it's pretty much, uh, I have a, uh,

I have a personal page, uh, but honestly it's the, uh, um, uh, you know, I, I mostly just post

all my stuff on the silver roof off-road page. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. So it's just the big,

one thing I really want to do and like start to dive more into is I just want to, um, help tell

better stories of the, of the trips and kind of describe the areas to people and hopefully, um,

like a lot of others in the industry do is try to inspire others to, to get out there and kind of,

you know, use their vehicles and find cool places. Yeah. So if you had like, let's say,

not like unlimited time, but if you have like a lot of time where you could, you didn't really

have to worry about like going, getting back to work like, like, so you could just take, you know,

a good amount of time off. Like what would be your epic trip of like some place,

like a, um, like a bucket list place that you would like to go to and be like,

I want to go explore this area for like, you know, a week or two weeks or whatever it might be.

Yeah. It's, it's pretty hard to pick. Um, I, I am extremely attracted to the desert.

I, I love the desert. Um, I don't know why it resonates with me so much because it's a pretty,

pretty rough place to be. Um, but I just, I love every, everywhere that, um,

you know, Utah, um, you know, parts of Colorado sometimes feels like a desert, uh, you know,

Wyoming. Um, so I tend to find myself, you know, gravitating towards the desert, but if I had

unlimited time, a bucket list, uh, dream of mine is to do the trans American trail.

And I'm, I'm hoping to do that here in the next few years. So obviously, uh,

we have a crankshaft culture. They did that not too long ago. Um, and I got to talk with them

a little bit, not as much as I would like cause it's a busy weekend, but, um, that's something

that I have on my mind that I think about quite often. I know I'm going to need a lot of time

for that. So, uh, I'd have to plan kind of far ahead, even with the amount of time I already get

off. Um, but the trans American trail is something that I've really set my, my eyes on as something

I want to hopefully do in the, in the future. Um, international travel with the, with the

foresters, not something that I don't think I have, uh, on my list so much, just due to the

logistics and timing and the finances, but the trans American trail is something I foresee as

pretty achievable given the time. Um, so that's what I would have to pick. If I had endless time

and just go, uh, go get that done. Yeah. So, uh, I want to ask some other questions, but I was,

you know, standing here looking at your rig. So what is the rap that you have on here? Who is it,

who did the rap and then like what, what are the, what's the topography of?

Yeah. So the, the, the rap that, um, I have on the side of it is, uh, made by Rapplander.

Um, and what it is, it's kind of like a topo kit. Um, you can, you, you know,

primarily mostly people, it's set up to do topo lines. Um, you know, it comes in a big long

sheet of a straight line. So you could kind of do whatever you want with it, but most people

do topo lines. Um, it's just kind of the easiest. Um, so yeah, uh, put it on here. Um,

you know, put it all, all the lines on myself. Uh, but the way that I did it was I actually

picked a couple of my favorite campsites on Onyx off-road and I used the, uh, the topographic

lines, uh, as inspiration. It's definitely not a picture perfect representation of the area,

but, uh, more so just inspiration, um, to start the lines. And then I tried to use, uh,

the contour lines of the car itself to help, you know, make it flow a little bit better. So

the driver's side is a, uh, is a spot near the Walden sand dunes, actually. Uh, the spot on the

back of the, uh, the hatch is a place in Utah. And then the, uh, spot on the right side is actually

a place in Wyoming. Okay. Yeah. Kind of loosely based off of them as a starting point to start

the lines. Okay. So as far as like all of your mods are concerned, what would you say is your

favorite mod? And then what would you say is your most useful mod unless it's the same thing?

Yeah. So hands down, it's got to be the slide out. Um, the, the slide out, it, because it's, uh,

it's just, it's solved so many issues that I was having as far as the organization,

I would say the biggest thing, uh, doing all this in the forester, um, and it's probably the

same for a lot of the Subaru's too, is, is the space. Yeah. When you're trying to, uh, sleep in

it and you're trying to set it up to be self-sufficient for as long as possible, inevitably

you're going to kind of run out of space pretty quick. The slide out really helped solve that

space, uh, issue, namely in the spare tire compartment. But the other thing is, is it's

extremely functional. It's really easy to grab the things that are in it too. Yeah. So that

in itself, um, kind of plays into a philosophy, a philosophy that I have and, um, and it's to

reduce the friction of camping. The easier it is to get to the things that you need,

uh, the more likely it is that you're going to go out there and use it and inevitably the

more fun you're going to have out there in a while. Yeah. So, uh, you may have mentioned it before,

but with this system, is this designed specifically for your model forester?

Yeah. Yep. This is a slide out meant for the SK forester. I believe they market as, uh, 2019 to

2024. Okay. Um, but they, I know for a fact they do make these for cross tracks and outbacks and

okay, even some other vehicles out there like Toyos and Jeeps and foreigners and whatnot. So

with your, with the like organization in the drawer itself, is that something that you can

customize? Yeah. So underneath the, the sliding table, you do have the ability to kind of, uh,

move around the dividers a little bit. They do have, um, you know, preset slots that you can

put them in, but there's nothing to say that you can't just come in there and drum a lot of new

notch if you just really need to make it even more customizable. But, um, I, from what I remember,

it's about four inches deep or a little over four inches deep that you have to work with. So

it's not super deep. So you are kind of limit on some things, but naturally I found all the

things that I need that, that actually will fit in it. Yeah. I, I might look into this because,

you know, I've, I've thought about doing like a rooftop system for some of the things that I want

to store in that. And I think a lot of things that I would want to store are small enough that I

could put in something like this without needing to get that to free up some space in the back.

But, you know, it's something I might look into. It's, you know, I don't do any off-roading or

anything, but there are a lot, there are things, I mean, like overlanding per se, but there are

things that I keep in my car that I just like having like a big storage bin that takes up a

lot of space and everything. So that's pretty cool. Yeah. Cause at the very least, like I,

I obviously carry a lot of tools with me too. So if something were to break out on the trail,

I can kind of fix it. But I find myself a lot of times, even when I'm at home,

in the garage working on something, some project that's completely unrelated,

I'm coming in here and I'm grabbing my tools or I'm using the slide out as a, as a workbench.

It becomes useful and not just the camping. It's a very useful day to day. Yeah. Yeah.

So as far as like when you're going out, I mean, it sounds like you do a lot of solo traveling.

You do some with your girlfriend, but are there like other Subaru owners or just off-roaders

overlanders that you go out with also? I have gone out a couple times with some other people

like locally in Colorado, but I would say like a kind of, I haven't successfully been able to find

like a core group of people that I've been able to go out with. And, and I don't know if it's because

it seems like a lot of times they just timing just doesn't work out. And yeah, I don't think

there's any shortage of people out there that are also doing it. I would love to go out with

people a lot, a lot more, but I find that my time off is it's so incant, it's consistent to me,

but it's inconsistent as in it's usually the bulk of it is during the weekday and not a lot of people

have the weekday off. So I end up just having to go out and kind of go out and solo trips.

I honestly go out mostly with my coworker and his Tacoma. He and I have gone out and done

a lot of these trips together. We have a lot more coming up actually this summer, some really fun

adventures coming up. But yeah, you know, I just need to find some more people that want to get

out because I like it. I do realize I've done a lot of this stuff on my own, but it's not the same

with people. The people really do make a difference. And you know, I'd be lying if I didn't say that

it gets a little lonely at times being out there. There are benefits to being alone because then

you can just like, I know exactly what I want to go do and I don't have to worry about, well,

do you want to do that too or I'm not really into that? But it is good to go out with like,

for me, being in Houston, we don't really have a lot of off-road stuff and we don't have, I mean,

we have cheeseburger loop and there are some other spaces, but it's being able to come to an

event like this and be around like so many people. We're all out here and you get to talk and,

you know, do some trailing and off-roading in places that I'd never get to go to.

It's a lot of fun. So yeah, but yeah, for us that get, you know, sometimes again, you're kind of

lonely. Yeah, I get it. Yeah, it's definitely a lot, I'd say the bulk at the time. I do appreciate

kind of that solo stuff, the freedom and kind of a, it's a good space for me to kind of recharge,

but it is also a lot of fun being with others too. So we'll start doing that a lot more soon.

Is there anything else you want to share about your rig or your journey?

You know, I just think that I can't help but think, especially over this weekend,

that a lot of people will kind of look at it and be like, holy moly, you got a lot of stuff and it

is. It's kind of, it's turned into that Subaru with all the stuff on it, right? You know, in my

head, I justify it by, hey, everything has a purpose. All that's to say that you don't need

this stuff to get out there and enjoy your Subaru off-roading. Like I know a lot of the

guests that have been on the podcast and a lot of people will say that, but it is so true.

Just get out there and, you know, if you're into camping and you just want to get outside or you're

thinking about, you know, can I, should I start off roading or whatever? Just go out and do it.

Go out and do it. Take notes of what your experience was like and be like, hey, you know,

I really noticed that I would like this thing or maybe my setup is, I see, I feel like there's a

lot of friction here. Take those notes from that experience and then you can fix and work on that

or maybe add that one little thing when you get back. You know, this, this did not happen overnight.

This is a culmination of almost 10 years now that I've been kind of like off-roading and

traveling and stuff. A lot of this stuff comes from the Tacoma world and the things that I learned

from all that. And then with the Subaru itself, these parts also did not show up overnight.

Yes. Little pieces at a time, but this is my hobby. This is what I love to do. So when I have the

free funds, you know, I'll start, get the one little thing and then, you know, kind of developing

that list and kind of prioritizing that list, you know, you're getting the thing that is absolutely

going to give you the best bang for your buck right then and there. And then before you know,

you have a bunch of crap on your car. No, but like you said, you know, everything has this place,

but you know, everything is useful and you know, you, like you said, go out there, take notes and

everything. I'm sure as you've done it over time, you're like, wait, I really need this, you know,

or I really need this or maybe you took something with you and you're like, I didn't even use it.

Yeah, that's, that's the big one is when you start taking stuff out is when you know you're

kind of getting in the right path. It's like, okay, I did not need this stuff because everything

you take out is, you know, shaping a little bit of weight. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And then just

something that you just don't need. Yeah. So we'll get to, and now we'll like talk a little bit more

about you and get to know you a little bit more, but like, who is Chris? Like kind of describe

yourself. Oh man. That's a, that's a pretty broad question. Yeah. You know, I, I just like to,

I like to have fun and I like to try to live life to its fullest. I've had a lot of experiences

throughout my life that show that life is extremely short. I lost my, my youngest brother

two weeks after I moved to Colorado. Oh man. So when I hugged him, literally when I was climbing

in my, the WRX with my dad to move to Colorado, that hug I gave him was the last hug I didn't

know at the time that last time I was going to see him. Yeah. So that hit me hard and, and I dealt

with a lot of other ways of dealing with grief that were not healthy and that caused a lot of

friction in my life and luckily kind of through learning all of that, it gave me just a huge

appreciation on life and, and you know, just told, it just taught me to enjoy all the small

moments, treat people with kindness, be nice to people. I think it just plays well into what I

like to do for my profession, you know, as firefighting, you know, it's, it's, it's a super

amazing job. I get to literally when those lights go off at the station there, I get to go out and,

and help someone no matter what it is. They can have a problem with smoke detectors or it could

be a car roll off the side of the ditch and is on fire. I mean, or a house on fire, it doesn't

matter. I get to, we get to go try and make someone's day better. And I think overall I try to go

through life doing the same and just have a positive impact on this for a long time. Yeah.

Yeah. And, you know, make some friends along the way. And yeah, just try to, try to have fun.

I have a, I have a very, I'm very blessed with the life that I've been given and very grateful. I

could, I could die tomorrow and I would say that I'm a, I've had a very good life. And

no, that's good. I just want to keep that rolling as I want to die young as late as possible.

Yeah, I get that. That's kind of the goal. Yeah.

Yeah. So we know what you do for a living firefighter. But would you say that that is a

dream job for you? Or do you like have a job that's like, if I could do this, like, I would love that.

Yeah. And it's kind of funny because I think firefighting kind of, it came in by accident.

So when I was in San Diego, I kind of got into aviation at a, at a pretty young age.

It started with flying RC airplanes when I was, jeez, I must have been like seven years old.

Oh, wow. My dad bought me a RC airplane for Christmas one year.

That we started. How they wouldn't do too well right now here.

Not now. Not now. It's all this wind. Yeah, I know.

Yeah, I got into RC airplanes with my dad and I was just flying him a whole bunch.

And then he had a flight simulator on the computer that I was always playing on.

And one thing led to another and he's like, Hey, why don't you go try and do the real thing?

So I got a job down at the local airport, washing airplanes in exchange for flight time.

When I turned 16, I was able to solo for the first time.

Oh, that's so cool.

So yeah, I had a bunch of hours before I was 16. So I had to wait till I was old enough. I ended

up getting my solo, solo sign off before I even had a driver's license. So that was kind of cool.

And yeah, yeah, I stayed in the aviation industry. I asked at the same time,

find out I was colorblind because I think at that time I was my dream job was actually to

be a bush pilot. Yeah. But finding out that I was colorblind kind of changed that for me.

But I stayed in the aviation industry. When I was old enough, I jumped on a fuel truck

at the same airport, fueled for a couple years. And then I moved into an avionics technician

position at the same airport and did that for five years. And then that was about towards the

end of that was when I started to feel like I was like, I want something a little bit more.

I felt like I was, I was like, I want to do something a little bit more for other people.

At the time I was wiring airplanes for like, you know, millionaires and stuff. And it just

seemed like there was something missing. And that's when I found out about wildland firefighting.

Okay. And then at the same time, I was in a long term, I was in a relationship that we kind of just

slowly grew apart. Do you want to close it up so they're getting dust in it? At this point,

it's like that after this whole weekend, it's like this thing's a dust bowl. Yeah.

Why add to it though? Yeah. But yeah, so I found out about wildland firefighting. And my aunt and

uncle had lived out in Colorado and they'd always said, Hey, we've got a spare room anytime you

want to come out. So I made the move out to Colorado and started working for the Forest Service.

Did wildland firefighting for about 55 seasons in the summer. And though in the winters,

I worked in the operating rooms at a local hospital, kind of turning over, yeah, turning

over surgery cases and cleaning up a lot of blood and doing all that stuff. And then it just kind

of got me interested in the medical side of field field. And then naturally, I took an EMT

class to get my EMT license. And then that same community college offered a firefighting

certifications too. So I think the next year after that, I went and got my like structural

firefighting certs, if you will. And then I started to start hearing about like what the structural

side of firefighting was and their schedule and, and of course, it pays a little bit more. And

yeah, you know, at the time, you know, you're pretty much gone all summer. So you didn't really

get to the whole five years I'd first moved to Colorado, I really didn't get to enjoy Colorado

all that much. I mean, it was still fun. I was traveling all across the country, working on a

lot of fires and having a lot of fun, but moved into the structural side of things. And I think

it's over the last several years, I realized that this is my dream job. I kind of just slowly

fell into it and just realized there's I work for a really fantastic department that really

takes good care of us and really make sure that we have long and healthy careers. And I just found

the work is is extremely rewarding. And I honestly couldn't imagine doing anything else. So that's

awesome. I think that's when you know you found your dream job. Yeah. And my intentions are absolutely

to retire in the fire service and specifically at my current fire department. So that's great,

man. It's not everybody finds that. So when you can find something like that that you're passionate

about, you know, something that you really enjoy doing. And like you said, you can see yourself,

you're tiring doing that. I mean, that's amazing. So that's that's really cool. Yeah, you know,

yeah, the dream of being a bush pilot, I think that was the only time that I actually thought I

dreamt up what I wanted to do. This just this just kind of like came through life in a way or

way. It just kind of kept following this path and kind of ended up in it. I didn't I definitely

didn't grow up as a kid dreaming of being a firefighter. It actually didn't even cross my mind

once. But it's just weird where life takes us sometimes. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So what is a favorite

memory from childhood? Honestly, getting that airplane, getting that it was a a super crappy

yellow RC airplane that actually it didn't we couldn't even get it to fly. Oh man. But but

getting that scene that that yellow RC plane. I I just remember just like it was the coolest thing

that I had ever gotten like we didn't always get like crazy big gifts and stuff that at the time

it was three other brothers and yeah, I'm sure you know a family living in San Diego is not cheap

to raise four kids. So getting that it's definitely like one of my most vivid memories and it's

it's kind of like when I look back at it, it's kind of like the thing that launched my life's path

in a way, you know, just each each and every little like kink in the road kind of like stemmed from

that like one memory I feel like. Yeah. So yeah, that's cool. What is something that makes you want

to get out of bed every day? Coffee, coffee, coffee for sure. Coffee and the sounds of birds out the

window. Awesome. I'm a big I said it earlier before I'm a big sound sound guy. Yeah. And I love hearing

birds. So I love a fresh cup of coffee, hearing the birds hanging out with my girlfriend Nicole and

our dog Lila on the backyard. Yeah, man. Yeah, that gets me going. Yeah, that's cool. Okay, well,

what's something that would make you want to stay in bed? Oh, man.

There's not my gut tells me that there's not really a whole lot because I feel like the only

way to get through something that's kind of wanting to keep you in a bed is to just kind of face it

head on. Yeah. Yes, that might be like a cheesy canned answer. I feel like it's not make sense.

I don't know. Things could always be worse. And I try to be optimistic about everything. And

yeah, it's just, I don't know, maybe if I'm feeling kind of sick, I'm just staying in bed a little

longer. Yeah. But at some point, you got to move around a little bit. Yeah. But I mean, yeah, it's

like you're not feeling well. It's like, man, I don't want to get up. You know, life's crazy. There's

a lot of things happening. Everybody, you know, everybody's got a different perspective on the

world and everyone's view on the world is different. And, you know, you just got to focus on

what your situation is and always improving it so then you can hopefully help others

improve their situation. I don't know. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. What is something that really scares you?

I think, I don't know. Sometimes, you know, you grapple with the unknown. Like, what's the future?

Like, you know, sometimes it's easy to think about like, where are things going to be

going ahead? And you kind of just wonder about that uncertainty. And I think that naturally

instills a little bit of fear, a little bit kind of scares you a little bit. And that's a very broad

answer, of course. Yeah. No, but it makes sense. Yeah. And again, it's just like, I don't know,

you just kind of approach it in the now and try to find those moments to get a little bit of joy

each day, you know? Yeah. What would be your best bit of advice to give to somebody about

anything like any topic or subject? Don't be too quick to judge people and situations. Yeah. Give

give things time. I've found, I've found in, you know, years past, I may have come to conclusions

too quick over initial reactions to, you know, situations are, you know, it's probably most

applicable to people. You know, I think a lot of us are, can judge what, you know, people by face

value. And I am almost 100% of the time wrong about my impression on people. Yeah. And that's

a very good point. You know, whether it's good or bad. Yeah. You know, so just be patient. You

know, be patient, hear people out. Yeah. Because you have to sometimes give time to maybe talk to

that person and be like, Oh, I had no idea. Yeah. You know, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Well,

I think that just about wraps it up, man. Thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you, Raph. It's pretty

cool to be doing this as like a nice way to send off the weekend. Yeah. The expo was amazing.

I met a lot of really cool people. You know, we both were probably pretty busy running around

doing a lot of different things. And, you know, now I'm sitting here at the, you know, what used

to be Camp Subaru is now kind of a ghost town. And we're just surrounded by a lot of wind and

some trees, but yeah. Yeah. No, it's a great, great point, you know, great way to send off the

weekend. And again, it was great seeing you again, great seeing people that I've seen other places

and expos last year. And it's really cool just to be here and have this experience together.

Yeah. I look forward to many more of these. Yeah. So thank you. Absolutely. Thank you. You're welcome.

Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Subin New Podcast. And thank you,

Chris, for taking the time out of your adventures at Overland Expo to record with me.

It was great to record in person again. So thank you so much for that. If you're not doing so already,

go give Chris a follow. It's Silveroo and it's underscore off-road. So Silveroo underscore

off-road. Give him a follow. And again, thanks for tuning in. I hope you all have a wonderful week.

I will be putting out a bonus episode here as soon as I can for Overland Expo West.

I got to pull all the audio together. And I'm going to pull some audio from some of the videos that

I recorded so that I can put those into the audio only version. And then I will get that put out.

But yeah, so I've got some work to do, but I've got some time to do it. So just need to get working

on it. But anyway, thanks again for tuning in. Hope you all have a wonderful week. If you're

going to be going to Overland Expo and PNW at the end of June, come say hi. I'll be there.

And I look forward to seeing people again and then meeting some new people. So take it easy.

Have a great week. Much to be love. Raph.

Music by Luke Ruiz in another room in Houston.

new podcast at gmail.com. That's all for this week.

you

S&YE229 - Silver Roo Offroad

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