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Subie Scoop October 6
About this episode
A lively recap of Overland Expo East in Virginia, highlighting meetups with fellow Subaru enthusiasts, including notable guests like Patrick from Orbis Overlanding and Corey from Cross Trek In. The host shares memorable moments such as chatting with Australian adventurer Rihanna Gelsamino, enjoying delicious food by Chef Chad, and discovering Stellar Snacks, a woman-owned business with unique pretzel flavors. The episode captures the community spirit, behind-the-scenes insights at the Subaru booth, and plans for future podcast content, all wrapped in a warm, personal storytelling style.
Topics:
overland expo east
subaru community
camp subaru
stellar snacks
outdoor adventure
podcast behind the scenes
guest interviews
subaru booth feedback
event recap
networking
In this segment I share a brief recap of my experience at Overland EXPO East in Arrington, Virginia.
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Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of the Subi Scoop.
I originally recorded this on my way home from the airport last night because I wanted to
work smarter, not harder.
And basically I didn't want to record when I got home so I wanted to save some time since
I knew I was going to get home late and get home, shower, go to bed, and get ready for
work the next day.
But I can't help myself.
I like being on my mic in my studio.
I like having my headphones on and I just like doing it that way.
So that's the way we're doing it.
So the other recording is just gone.
And that's okay.
But anyway, this is about catching up with Overland Expo East in Errington, Virginia.
I just wanted to do a quick recap and talk about my experience there briefly.
I got in on Wednesday, October 1st and did some exploring around DC before I had to
pick up Milton around five.
Then we went and got something to eat, headed to the hotel.
When we got to the hotel to park, we got a really nice surprise because we saw two awesome
cross treks out there, one of them belonging to Patrick, who goes by Orbis Overlanding,
and then also Corey, who goes by Cross Trek in.
So it was really cool to see that they were there.
So we got in, started checking in, and texted Patrick to ask him to like, hey, come out
to the lobby and hang out with us and meet us.
So found out that he was actually eating in the restaurant that was there at the hotel.
So we went and sat down with them, chatted for a long time, and then Sean from Subaru showed
up and we started chatting with him.
Then on Thursday, got up really early to help Sean go pick up some food from Cracker Barrel
for breakfast because the outback that he was in was pretty full and we had very
little stuff in the Cross Trek that we were in.
So we had plenty of room to help get some of the food and take it out to the spot where
we were meeting up with a lot of people that were invited to Camp Subaru.
So not everybody showed up, but a lot of people showed up and we all had breakfast
together.
Then we split up into our respective groups, did our trail rides, and then ended up
meeting up at the Camp Subaru at Overland Expo East at the venue on Thursday evening.
Then and just hung out for a while.
And then on Friday, we all met up in the morning, started getting ready at the booth.
And then we did, you know, we got there to work because Milton and Patrick actually
did like the talk that Milton and Kerry would typically do.
I actually wasn't on the agenda for this trip.
So I decided to just not work and just walk around and do nothing.
But I'm just kidding.
I can't do that.
So no, I got some good recordings in.
I wanted to talk to people that talk to Milton, talk to Troy and ask them
specifically since they were at all of the events, what they really liked about
the Subaru booth, if you want to call it that and what, you know,
what they thought really worked when what they thought could be improved upon
for next year.
And then I talked to other people that were, you know,
after they had seen the Subaru booth for a while and asked them
like what they thought about it, asked them if they could, you know,
if there was anything that could be improved upon.
So, you know, I did that Friday and Saturday.
Sunday wasn't really that busy.
So I only talked to one person and it was Leo, who's who's out back was in
the Subaru booth.
So he had a display vehicle there.
And anyway, I talked to him.
That was the only recording I got because there just really wasn't any
traffic coming in.
Plus Milton and I had to leave early because I had to get back to the airport.
He had to get a hotel so that he could fly out the next morning.
So both left a little after one and so we could get out of there.
So now that's kind of a brief summary.
I can talk about it some more on the bonus episode, which will be coming out
in a couple of weeks.
Not putting it out this Friday because I still have a lot of work to do
for episode 213, but I will have it released the following Friday
as a bonus episode.
But I had an incredible weekend.
It was, I didn't even know that Rihanna was going to be there.
I just, I think I found out when we were at dinner on Thursday night or when
we were sitting with Patrick and Corey, I think I was looking through the
schedule to see when, when Milton and Patrick had to do their talk because
they didn't know.
And so I was looking through and I saw that Rihanna and Gelsamino was going
to be there and I was like, Oh, that's super cool.
We get to see her again.
And I just have to say she is incredibly awesome because she hung around in
the owner lounge for a long time on Saturday and Sunday and Friday too.
I think she was there Friday.
Anyway, while she was there, she hung out in the owner's lounge and
talked to people for a really long time.
And then she even went and had dinner with everybody in Camp
Subaru both nights, hung out with them for a long time.
Then she did a lot of video footage and interviewed some of the
people whose Subarus were there.
And it was funny because she was like, is it okay if I do that?
And I was like, yeah, of course, you know, but she's just, I don't know.
She's so polite.
She's so nice.
I got her on the mic and because she was telling some funny stories
about, you know, different words that we use here in the US and, and
words that they use in Australia.
So like color, you know, over there, they use, they use an U, they use an U.
They use a U in color and here we don't.
And she was talking about some funny stuff going on with her mom with that.
And then talking about how they, how they describe ketchup over there versus
here.
So she was telling these stories.
I'm sitting there listening and I asked her if she would be willing to get
on the mic and talk about those things and share those stories.
So she was kind enough to do that.
So we sat down and got her on the mic again and just had a really great chat.
So that was a lot of fun.
And it was just, it was so great getting to meet so many people that I've
been connected with on Instagram that I had not had a chance to meet yet.
People from adventure one and several other people that were out there at
the expo.
And then of course, getting to see Milton and Troy and Sean.
And there's a guy from a guy named Ash, who is from Tully.
He was there and I didn't know that he was going to be there because he
originally said he wasn't going to be.
He actually lives in the Houston area.
So we've met up before for dinner and hung out and and he's such a great guy.
So it was really nice to see him again.
And then of course it was great to see Patrick again because I hadn't seen
him since Subaru Flatfest in 2022.
And you know, just seeing other people and and then meeting new people that
I hadn't connected with some of the campers that came out there for Camp
Subaru. So and then the food that Chef Chad was cooking was incredible as always.
And so we just had a really good time.
And then Saturday night, we put all put a bunch of chairs in a circle
at Camp Subaru, told some stories, did a little karaoke and just had some fun.
So that was really cool.
And then one of the things that I was really, really excited about with
this expo is in Colorado.
I was talking to Joe from Subaru about the snacks that they had and asked
him like if they have a contract or anything with the snack suppliers.
And he said no.
So I asked him if I could get some snacks.
And he said, yeah, sure, go ahead.
So there's a company called Stellar Snacks and they serve these little
half ounce snack bags on Southwest Airlines, which is how I found out about them.
And the flavor that they serve is Maui Monk.
So it's like monk fruit and Maui onion flavored.
And there's they have some other ingredients in there, too.
But they've got a like just a perfect balance of like the Maui flavor,
the monk flavor and a sweetness to them.
And ever since I had them, I've just like
they are so, so good.
And I love sharing these pretzel snacks with everybody.
So I messaged Stellar Snacks on Instagram and I told them, I didn't ask them.
I told them, I said, I want to see your snacks
at the next Overland Expo in the Subaru owner lounge.
And I just like I gave this long spiel about like how much I love them,
how much I love sharing them with people.
And so I said, like, I was basically like
not giving them an option is like you're going to send them to us.
And I wasn't being mean about it, of course.
But I just I told them, like, you know, I love your snacks so much.
And I want to see them here because I want to share them
with people because they're amazing.
So they messaged back and they asked me how many we needed
and what address to send it to.
So they sent two hundred of those little Maui Monk
snack packs and then they sent two hundred of another flavor called Bolden Erby.
I'd never had the Bolden Erby before, so I tried those this weekend.
And those are pretty good.
But the Maui Monk, I don't know what they put in that.
But the flavoring of those is just insane.
So I highly recommend going to Stellar Snacks, going to their website,
typing in your zip code and finding out where you can find the Maui Monk flavored pretzels
because I had a couple of people actually say these are life changing.
They are so good.
People were saying these are the best snacks I've ever had my entire life.
I cannot guarantee, though, that if you try them, you're going to love them
just as much as everybody else.
But I would say like 90 to 95 percent of the people that I have
shared these with absolutely love them, like love them, love them, love them.
I mean, they are so good.
So go give them a try.
Go give them a follow on Instagram.
It's also a woman owned business.
They've been killing it.
And of course, being, you know, served on Southwest Airlines flights,
that's huge for them.
Also, the so it's a mother and a daughter and the daughter
is on the Forbes 30 under 30 list, which that's a really big deal.
So anyway, I was like really, really excited about that part of this trip as well.
And I may have been excited just as excited about that as I was about everything else.
I'm not going to lie because I love sharing things that I'm passionate about
that, you know, anything that I come across that I really, really love.
I love sharing it with other people.
And I really wanted to share these snacks with everybody.
You know, because I mean, I love this community.
I love meeting new people in the community.
And if I can share something that I love with people that I love
and the people that I love interacting with, then that really makes my day
to bring some joy into other people's lives.
And I'm telling you, these snacks were bringing joy into other people's lives.
But anyway, I just had to throw that all out there
because I was just I was really excited about that.
And I was extremely grateful for Stuller Snacks to send them to us.
And I'm so glad they did because they really, they really,
they were kind of like the big hit of the show, at least the snack part of it.
But yeah, I had such an incredible weekend.
It was great talking to people from Subaru of America again,
sharing some ideas about things that I want to do with the podcast.
And they were very, very receptive to it.
And I'm very grateful for that.
So we will see what comes about in the near future
the next few months or so as I am allowed to share things.
I will let you know, but I'm very, very excited for the potential.
And I'm extremely grateful for everybody that's been here on this journey
with me, because this is not my podcast.
This is your podcast. This is Subi and you.
Of course, I'm the host and I get the guests and, you know,
I do a lot of the work for it.
But this is for everybody. This is for us.
It's for me. It's for you.
It's for the whole community.
Subi and you, that's what it's all about.
So thank you all so much for sticking around for over four and a half years.
Thank you so much for continuing to listen, for sharing.
I really appreciate it. Please keep sharing it.
If you if you see somebody new that comes into the community,
let them know about your episode if you've been on the podcast.
If you haven't been on the podcast and you just love listening,
tell them about it. Please keep sharing.
And if you have an episode where you've been on the podcast,
share it in your stories every once in a while,
because you may have new followers that don't know that you were on a podcast.
You may have new followers that don't know that the podcast exists.
And, you know, if you really like that you were on the podcast
and you had a great time, share it with everybody.
So, you know, maybe like once a month, share your episode.
And just let people know about it.
Remind people, be, hey, go check out my episode again.
But anyway, I really, really appreciate the support from everybody.
And I'm extremely grateful for all the opportunities that have come
because I started this podcast and with this Overland Expo journey
and tour, I guess, if you want to call it,
I've been able to meet so many people and I'm so grateful for that
because if it wasn't for being included in this and Overland Expo,
I wouldn't have met a lot of the people that I've met lately in the past few months.
So thank you all so much.
I really, really love all of you and I hope you all have a great week.
And we will see you next Monday on a new episode two thirteen
and then the following Friday for the bonus episode from Overland Expo East.
So talk to you later. Much to be loved.
Raph.
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