Overland Expo is a big event for people who like long road trips and off-road travel. It’s a place where you’ll see trucks and SUVs prepared for dirt roads and camping-style adventures.
“Hitting some trails” refers to taking a vehicle off paved roads onto dirt, gravel, or uneven paths. For Subaru owners, this often connects to the brand’s all-wheel-drive reputation and the kind of traction and ground clearance considerations that matter on rough terrain.
The Subaru Outback is a car that’s shaped like a wagon but made to drive more easily on uneven roads. It usually comes with all-wheel drive, which helps when roads are wet or slippery. In the story, it’s used as an example of a practical vehicle compared to a smaller truck.
Rear-wheel drive (RWD) sends power mainly to the rear wheels. In low-traction situations, RWD can struggle if the rear tires lose grip, which is why the truck got stuck in the muddy scene described.
All-terrain tires are made to handle more than just regular roads. They usually have tread that helps on dirt, gravel, and mud compared to regular tires.
OEM tires are the tires that were installed on the car when it was new. They’re saying her daughter’s current tires still look good, so she won’t need the new ones right away.
Sometimes a punctured tire can be repaired with a patch. But if the damage is too close to the edge, it may not be safe to patch and the tire may need replacement.
They’re basically saying to make sure your tires are healthy before you take a longer trip. If tires are damaged or cracking, it’s smarter to replace them than to risk it.
Discount Tire is a shop that sells tires and also installs them. They can put the tires on the wheels and make sure they’re balanced so the car drives smoothly.
Balancing is making sure the tire and wheel spin evenly. If they’re not balanced, you may feel shaking while driving and the tires can wear out faster.
Subaru of America is the company that brings Subaru to the U.S. They help support events and often set up booths where people can talk to Subaru folks and learn more.
Free shipping means you don’t pay for delivery. The host says it kicks in if your discounted cart total is over $50.
LIVE
Hello everybody, welcome to another edition of the Subi Scoop, so I have to make an announcement
right away.
Some of you may already know this, some of you may not, but as of last weekend, it was
March 15th, my status was leveled up, because now I am officially a grandpa.
On the morning of Sunday March 15th, that is when my daughter's daughter, my granddaughter,
was born.
They aren't really sharing any photos on social media, so I am respecting that, so I am not
going to share any photos either, I'm also not going to really share any other details
because I'm not sure what all they are comfortable sharing, but I will say that the birth went
very very smooth, and both my daughter Catherine and her daughter were totally fine, like everything
went I think as smooth as it could possibly go, and it was like, it took about 45 minutes
for her to give birth, and that is like super incredible.
I feel like she is very very blessed all around to have had such an easy go at it the first
time.
So I am very very thankful for that, she is like super super cute, she's absolutely adorable.
So for those of you that I will see in person, you know, now till whenever, especially like
when I go to Overland Expo, I will show pictures, because of course I have pictures on my phone,
and I will be gladly gladly sharing them, like my lock screen on my phone changed really
really quick to my granddaughter, and then I changed it again because my Catherine sent
me another photo that was just like super super cute, and I had to change it again, and I'm
sure it will change again at some point, but that's the big announcement today, that's
it, goodbye.
I'm just kidding, that's not all I have to say.
My son and I went out on Saturday, March 21st, and we just went driving around, and then
we ended up hitting some trails that he and one of his friends had found quite a while
ago, and it was funny because he had gone out there in his outback, and his friend was
in his little Chevy truck, which was rear wheel drive, the tires not much tread on him, and
it was kind of muddy, and his truck got stuck, so thankfully somebody else was in a bigger
truck, and they were actually able to pull him out, but Luke's outback went right through
everything, and they were all like, oh my gosh, I can't believe it's going right through
this stuff, and he's like, yeah, it's a Subaru, it's got all wheel drive, and he didn't even
have all-terrain tires in, so now he actually has some all-terrain tires on his Subaru.
So that's the other thing, huge shout out to Nokia and tires.
I met Tony, which is like one of the general sales manager for Nokia and tires when I was
in Overland Expo Colorado last year, and he came up to me and started talking to me because
he saw that on the sandwich board out in front of the Subaru booth, it said, Subaru New Podcast,
and then he saw that I was wearing the shirt that said, Subaru New Podcast, so he started
talking to me, and we ended up talking all weekend, and he wanted to offer me some tires,
but they didn't have any all-terrains in my size, so he said, we want to do something for you,
and I said, well, neither one of my kids have all-terrains on their cars, so Nokia and tires
was kind enough to send out two sets of their Outpost APT, which is kind of like a lower
grade of all-terrain tires, but they sent out two of those to my son and to my daughter,
so now they both have the Outpost APTs by Nokia. My daughter hasn't had a chance to get hers on
her car yet, plus her tires, her OEM tires still have a lot of tread on them, so whenever she
gets to the point to where she needs new tires, she already has a set. Luke's tires, the ones that
he had on his car, he ended up, I think he had a nail on the driver's side front, and then he had
a nail in the driver's side rear, and he went to discount. The driver's side rear was too close
to the edge for them to just patch it up, and his tires were kind of cracking some. Anyway,
they didn't look like they were in the best condition, and he was planning on taking a trip
that was a little over an hour away down to Galveston, and he was like, I just don't feel
comfortable with the nail in my tire, and both tires rather, so he didn't go on the trip, and
instead he went and picked up the tires because they were at my daughter's house, and we got him
put on, I think it was on Friday. So now he has a brand new set of tires, and I'm really glad. I
feel so much better with him driving around with a new set of tires, and especially because he had
the nails in the other ones, and the tires just were not, they didn't look like they were in good
shape, and he feels a lot better about it too, so I'm very thankful for that. And he had some cash
from like graduation back in high school, and he was really wanting to hang on to the cash,
but I said, look, if you're going to use it, this is a really good thing to use your cash for,
because he had to pay discount tire to balance them and rotate that, or balance them and mount
them and everything, so he used his money for that, and I think that was a good use of it.
But yeah, so now he has tires, and we ended up hitting the trails on Saturday, and it was a lot
of fun. It wasn't muddy, there wasn't anything really challenging, there were some dips in the
trail, and of course that's always fun, you know, you don't want to just drive on a flat trail,
but we had a good time, and we got some good photos, so if you go look at my latest reel on
Pearl's page, I posted some photos and some videos of what we did on Saturday, but that was a lot
of fun. And yeah, so that's really about all that's going on right now, there's not a whole lot
else. I just want to say again, too, that I am going to be at Overland Expo this year, I'll be at
PNW, I will be in Flagstaff, which Flagstaff is first, then PNW, then Colorado, and then Virginia,
so I'm going to be at all four of those Overland Expo events, so if you're going to be there,
I really look forward to seeing you again, maybe, or for the first time. But again, I am super
thankful, thank you so much Subaru of America for inviting me out again this year, it's like,
it's just such a great event. I get, you know, interviews with people that are coming through
the booth, and people that are like, they have their booth cars there, and then people that are at
Camp Subaru that, you know, are meeting a lot of people for the first time, so it's really cool to
hear some of their stories. And that's the main reason for me to be there, is to capture some of
these stories from people, but I'm also going to be doing more this year than I did last year,
I'm going to be doing more videos, I'm going to have a conversation at the events on each day,
on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with somebody, and I'm going to be recording video with it this
time, so it's going to be, I'm going to be doing more, like I said, and I'm looking forward to it.
But if you are going to be going out to Overland Expo, you should show up in style,
and shop Subarugear.com, go browse the site, pick up a backpack, maybe some t-shirts, a hat,
and show off your Subaru Pride at Overland Expo, and if you do get something, let me know, come
show me, be like, hey, check it out, I got this hat, I got this shirt, I got this backpack, whatever
it may be, and you please be sure to use the code SUBEANU2026 at checkout to get 20% off your
purchase. If you fill up your cart, and your total is over $50 after the 20% discount, you'll
automatically get free shipping as well, which is, that's a huge savings. So make sure that you
fill up your cart, and take advantage of getting free shipping. So thank you so much Subarugear
for sponsoring the SUBEANU podcast, and thank you so much for bringing this offer to our listeners.
I know a lot of people have been using the discount code, and let's just keep it going.
They're also going to be releasing their new spring lineup here pretty soon, so go check out the site
for pretty soon, and you can find that on there as well. They have some really nice items coming out.
Also, if you're not doing so, I have a YouTube channel, I'm going to be, I have a playlist for
Subarugear, so I'm going to be, my plan is to put out a new video for Subarugear every Tuesday,
so be on the lookout for that. I'm going to be posting the videos on Instagram, TikTok,
YouTube Shorts, and then I'll do a full YouTube video as well because it'll have product links,
and that way you can go and purchase straight from there if you want to.
Also, if you haven't done so, please subscribe to the YouTube channel. I would really,
really appreciate it. It would be cool to see more subscribers and more viewers on there. So
I'm just trying to do as much as I can for the podcast and for Subarugear. I'm taking advantage
of having this time and trying to do more. So, and to all my patrons, thank you so much for
supporting the podcast. It really, really means so much, and it's really, really helped out through
this time, and I really, really appreciate it. Thank you so much. So that's going to be it for
this edition of the Subi Scoop. I hope you all have a wonderful week. We'll see you next Monday
for another regular episode, and it's going to be a really good one because it's going to be somebody
that a lot of people know. So be sure to tune in. Much Subi love. Raph.
About this episode
Raph opens with big personal news: he’s now a grandpa after a smooth, quick birth on March 15. The rest of the update is all Subaru life—his son Luke and a friend tested trails in muddy conditions, where Luke’s Outback proved its all-wheel-drive capability and led to an upgrade to all-terrain tires. Nokia & Tires also stepped in with two sets of Outpost APT for the kids. Luke avoided a trip after finding nails and cracking tires, then got new ones. Raph also shares Overland Expo stop plans and promo details for Subarugear.
