Outskirts Overland Podcast
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Outskirts Overland Podcast
Eating my words- random tangent and some tidbits for spring camping.
What happens when severe weather wreaks havoc across Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas? In this heartfelt episode of Outskirts Overland, I explore the impacts of recent storms and share personal stories of community resilience and solidarity. Join me as I recount my efforts to find meaningful ways our community can offer support, and hear about a memorable camping trip with my daughter over Memorial Day weekend, despite facing challenging weather conditions. This episode underscores the importance of preparing newcomers for the unpredictability of the great outdoors, blending practical advice with personal anecdotes.
Can a change in gear transform your camping experience? I share the excitement of upgrading my equipment, from my switch to a 23Zero Kabari light wedge-style tent to my new Kenda RT tires and KMC wheels. Hear first-hand insights into selecting durable and practical camping gear and the thrill of testing out new innovations like 360-degree awnings and advanced LED lights. This episode is packed with tips on managing outdoor challenges like poison ivy and ticks, and a reflection on my minimalist approach to camping setups. Whether you're a seasoned overlander or just getting started, there's something here for everyone.
What's next in the world of overlanding and camping events? I delve into upcoming events such as the Big Iron Overland Rally and Rendezvous in the Ozarks, highlighting their value for networking and learning. You'll also hear about my plans for a week-long overlanding adventure culminating in these events. This episode wraps up with a heartfelt thank you to all the listeners who have supported the podcast, offering a laid-back chat about the joy of connecting with the overlanding community. It's a perfect mix of practical advice, personal stories, and community insights, all aimed at enhancing your overlanding experience.
You so. So, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to Outskirts Overland. I appreciate you guys all being here this week. I'm going gonna get into some stuff, uh, just, I'm just gonna ramble um on tangents and different things, but before we get started, I gotta, I gotta go do the thing, you know. So if any of you guys want to check out onyx off-road, you can get 20 off using the discount code global overlander 236 andANDER236, and that'll get you 20% off of Onyx Off-Road. If you're in the Midwest which I'll get into that further but if you're in the Midwest and you are interested in doing something with the off-road community and you drive a Toyota, go over and check out Toyota Trucks of Arkansas and Go Fast Campers. If you guys ever listen to this I don't know, I got some news, so we'll see what's going on with Go Fast Campers guys. But I'm still here, I still try to give you guys a chance, but no, no. So thank you guys all for being here. I appreciate you guys. I'm happy Everybody's made it today. That has made it got a few people watching live, which I love. So thank you very much.
Speaker 1:Um, so, guys, uh, first thing I want to talk about today is. I go to the Ozarks a lot and that's Arkansas, and I'm not going to get on some tangent about off-road in Arkansas, but pretty much just south of me in over the last couple weeks, oklahoma, arkansas, texas they've gotten hit with some really bad weather and it's caused some damage to some people's property. It's caused some damage to some people's homes, cars, workplaces. So I spent all day trying to find a legitimate way that I could get out to you guys to maybe donate or help out the communities, because they're more or less, whether they're struggling yet or not, they're going to be. So I was trying to get that to everybody but I couldn't find a legitimate one and none of my connections there really led me to a legitimate one. So it was kind of a it was kind of a tough endeavor. So I don't know how you guys could help out. Um, if you guys wanted to I know there's a lot of chainsawing going on down there I I have a couple of friends who I could give you their addresses If you guys wanted to send out some two stroke gas or some, you know, or even just some bottles of water.
Speaker 1:Most people have their power back. From what I understand, most people have their power back, but not everybody. So I don't really know what we can do to help. But I'm pretty sure if you guys were interested in ordering some online pickup to like from Walmart or something, maybe my friends would be able to go pick it up, maybe to help some people out. So just I'm just putting it out there. There's a lot of trees down. My friends are actively out probably not even watching right now. Uh, they've been out since last Saturday clearing trees for everybody, helping people charge their stuff off their power stations and their solar, helping them cook with their propane stuff, because a lot of these people aren't like us and they're not prepared for this stuff, and so that's important that we work toward helping our local communities as well. So we just appreciate everybody for that. I was happy to hear my friends doing that. So if you can help in any way, it would be awesome and don't hesitate.
Speaker 1:I'm Charlie Raz on Instagram personally. I'm Charlie Rastanowski, just like it's spelled down here on Facebook personally, and I'm Outskirts Overland on a separate account everywhere, but comment on my videos. I check the comments on my videos on YouTube, these as well. These streams after they go live. If you got anything to say now, go ahead and say it, but I do just want to make sure that everybody's aware that a really close place to my heart got hit pretty hard this week. And if anybody can help in any way, reach out to me and I'll see if I can get you in touch with some of my friends and they can fill you in on what would be useful to them. So anyways, without further ado, we'll get into today. So happy Memorial Day.
Speaker 1:I did a podcast last Monday because I was kind of tied up with time constraints with my niece had a graduation and my daughter's last day is my well, I got three kids guys. I don't know if you guys know that or not, but I got three kids and my oldest daughter's last day of school was like Wednesday and it was just. It was a hectic week. So I did this on Monday. Feel like I haven't done it in forever. But happy Memorial Day late. As a veteran, it's a very, very important holiday to me.
Speaker 1:I did get out and go camping this weekend. I took my oldest daughter and we went camping. We would have went two nights but because of the weather that occurred on Saturday, because we still got pretty bad weather nothing like the south of us got, but we did still get some bad weather and, uh, that being said, we, uh, we didn't go Saturday night. We waited till that weather passed in the morning and we went out Sunday early-ish, I think, like 11, we went out and we, uh, and we went out, we went camping. So, for sure, the weather was not optimum, but that's what I'm going to get in today to. The weather wasn't optimal. We did get rained on a couple of times, and so that was not ideal, but even so, it was all right.
Speaker 1:So I took my daughter out, which is a good is a good segue into people just getting into camping or overlanding. So I'm taking her out and I'm trying to teach her. You know, this is, you know, this is by no means her first rodeo. She's been going, she's went a lot of times and she, she, you know she. Essentially, you know I'm trying to get more to where she's packing her own things, she's doing her own stuff, she's thinking about what to take and what not to take. I'm trying to get her in the mindset of like, okay, you're going someplace where you have no amenities, what are going to be some things that you're going to need, you know like, and so I let her pack, you know, and kind of helped her a little bit along the way.
Speaker 1:So I made sure she had, you know, extra shirt, extra underwear, stuff like that, like regular basic stuff. But we got rained on and we got soaked. We are out and we were, we just straight got soaked. So we were out and we were we're we're out away hiking when the rain started and we just got straight freaking, annihilated with water. Now, given that we, we, um, we had one pair of shoes. So, given that we had one pair of shoes, so, given that we had one pair of shoes, it was she had one pair of shoes. I should paraphrase she had one pair of shoes and she was in and out of the truck. She sleeps in the back of the truck, she's in and out of the truck. Well, that brings a perfect a point, brings up a point.
Speaker 1:She didn't think to bring an easy slip on, slip off pair of shoes when she's getting in and out of the truck a bunch of times. So that was something that I think she'll never do again. She'll never forget a pair of shoes, like whether it's she has Crocs, and ultimately like. That's a great option for anyone, regardless of what you think about the style. That's a great option for you regardless, because they slip on easy. They slip off easy, you can pretty much hose them down. But she forgot those one thing, that's number one. She forgot a pair of shoes to get in and out of. So she had wet shoes for two days and she was like she's like, oh, put them in the sun, they'll dry. So she also had a false expectation of how long it would take for those things to dry.
Speaker 1:And I was trying to explain humidity to her and stuff, and the more I was out there with her explaining these things. We've been camping in the rain before, but not I mean we got rained on on and off. So we've camped out in the rain where it like rains and then it stops. We got rained on like three separate, separate segments. So it was a little different because she was in and out a little more.
Speaker 1:But I ended up thinking about like well, a lot of people are going to get in this hobby, like they don't understand dry air, dry air, wet air, humidity, how that affects your stuff, like even if you sweat in a bunch of humid in a humid climate, like, your clothes and stuff are still going to be wet the next morning. So when it's humid and if you sweat a lot or you're going to sweat or you're going to get rained on, your stuff's not going to dry. So you need to pack a little bit extra. You know incidentals, pack extra. You know you're not going to go wrong bringing clean clothes home, but you might be pretty uncomfortable vice versa. So that's something to think about. So pack more dry clothes while we're in. You know, if you're in a humid climate or while we're in spring and we're getting a lot of rain, pack extra clothes, pack shoes that kind of aren't affected by wet weather. You know that you can kind of stomp around in not not something that's cloth, flip-flops, whatever you can rinse your feet off. So that that was my, that was my, probably my number one takeaway for anybody, which I know and I was prepared for. But it's good to teach, you know, teach your kids some lessons and uh, it's it's better that they kind of come to it on their own. So you know the in the Marine Corps they say pain retains, but ultimately just being uncomfortable is something you'll remember.
Speaker 1:And she was definitely. She was definitely in a little bit of a situation with her with her shoes, putting wet shoes on, then not enough dry socks because everything was wet. It was a deal. But ultimately again, I brought extra socks for seeing some issues. I helped her out. It wasn't the end of the world. I helped her out. It wasn't the end of the world.
Speaker 1:But secondly, man, I'm always prepared for mosquitoes and I have not been camping in years, years where ticks were this bad dude. I came home with probably three or four ticks on me. She had a couple of ticks on her and that's after. We checked each other multiple times through the day and picked a ton of them like crawling on us, picked a bunch off that were crawling on us. Man, ticks were bad.
Speaker 1:So I looked into that because I mean, nobody wants ticks, tick bites, nobody wants to pull ticks out. There's, you know, some diseases associated with ticks, at least around here, like alpha gal that keeps you from eating anything but chicken and it's like it's a deal. Um, I don't, I don't want to act like I know everything about it, but it is prep. It's prevalent around here and so people are kind of tick scared. But what I researched and looked into was ticks. You know you, you gotta look into. You can't just trust the companies coming out with bug stuff that that bug stuff works. So, for instance, like my um, my neighbors have beehives, like they're a huge bee, like bumblebee honey operation, and they're always laughing because everybody puts lemongrass, you know, in their bug spray, but actually bees like lemongrass, so it's attracting the bees.
Speaker 1:So when I looked up what is effective against ticks, what ticks don't like, predominantly it was citronella, which is what a lot of people use for mosquitoes. So what I've done the last few days since we've been back with my daughter, is I got her some like citronella bands that go around your ankles just to see Cause I mean I live in the country too Like ticks are still. Ticks are nuts here, ticks are nuts on the dog, ticks are nuts on everybody mowing the grass, everything. Ticks are bad right now. So I got her some like citronella, organic something or other, like rubber bands that go that I put around her ankles just to see. You know, just kind of test that out and I'll let you guys know what I come up with over the next coming weeks. But man, that's something that I mean it matters, you know. And there's another thing that matters too. That doesn't affect me or my kids at least to my knowledge, definitely not my oldest daughter, and I'll get into that in a second but ticks are real bad. Nobody wants tick bites. You feel gross with tick bites, so it's. It's not been something that I've been dealing with in the last three years, probably at least, um, but it's really bad right now, like currently the month of almost June is bad, bad. I don't know what environment they like better than others, but it is 100% tick mania out there right now.
Speaker 1:Then, secondly, poison ivy's out poison ivy's, flourishing poison oak. There's a lot of misconceptions out there about that. I'm not allergic to poison ivy, it doesn't bother me, I can walk through it. It doesn't, does not matter to me. My oldest daughter at least she's the one that I go hiking and camping with the most it doesn't affect her either. So our biggest thing is the ticks. But if you are allergic to poison ivy or poison oak or bee stings or like that, stuff's all another co-factor that you need to be paying attention to right now.
Speaker 1:Bees were heavy, even though cicadas are out. Bumblebees were heavy. I didn't see any wasps, but ticks were heavy. Poison ivy was real heavy, but again, doesn't affect. I don't. I'm not affected by it, but I know some people like they look at it and they're screwed for a week. So I got a couple of funny statements about that even. But we'll save that for another time. So, yeah, that was bad. So we had. You know, if you were allergic to poison ivy, you would have had wet stuff. Poison ivy ticks Could have looked, could have been a crappy time, but I mean, I had a great time. I'm trying to teach her about it a little more. It was a good time.
Speaker 1:She likes sleeping in the back of the truck I got set up for. She really enjoys it. It's her own space. When we're camping she still has her own room. She's not subject to whether I snore or roll on top of her or whatever. She can watch whatever we downloaded down there I can watch. She can watch whatever we downloaded down there and I can watch a movie that I downloaded after dark up top. You know she's got her own headlamp the whole nine. Um. So all good there. All all good there, but one thing that I wanted to.
Speaker 1:I ate my words in a couple of instances, or I'm going to eat my words in a couple of instances. So I just got done talking. So I've done two podcasts, one not so recently and one pretty recently, and I'm kind of into right now I'm at a place Well, not a place. I like to test out different stuff and I'm always looking to make my setup better, but I like to test out different stuff. Like, and I'm always looking to make my setup better, but I like to test out different stuff. So I'd previously said last week you know, if I have a rooftop tent it's going to be an OVS, an overland vehicle system scent. Well, guys, I'd done already F'd that up, um or or mess that up for Family friendly, but anyways. So I got an opportunity over Memorial Day To.
Speaker 1:Anyways, I got an opportunity For A tent from 23-0 and so that's coming on Friday. I got a 23-0 Kabari light, so it's's real light wedge style tent. I again I I've always I said I would stay with OVS. I did get a hold of OVS and, quite frankly, 23-0 just like called me back on the phone Like I could show you guys on my phone. They physically reached out to me and I was like, well, that's super nice, that's really cool. So I really liked that.
Speaker 1:I got to talk to them about their warranty and stuff, because they had a couple offerings with wedge tents that I was interested in and I was like, hey, I had this happen before. What do you guys do with that, et cetera, et cetera. Is it for season? All the things that I discussed last week? For sure, like what's you know. Make sure it's for season. What's this, what's that? How's that work? What grade aluminum is it? How heavy is it? How does it mount? What do you send for it to mount? Do I need extra stuff? Does it come with all this stuff? So they kind of checked all the boxes and I ended up going with a Kabari light. It is far more minimal than what's currently on my truck and if you're watching you'll see it on top of my Bushfield two clamshell.
Speaker 1:But that tent is big man and I want to. I want to go, man. I just I'm'm weird in the fact that I'm not real big on cooking. I cook to eat. The tent thing is just not my thing. I'm not trying to set up a freaking, amazing feng shui space up there. It's to sleep. I'm not hanging out up there, I'm not doing nothing. Even if it's raining, I'm hanging out, probably under the awning. I like to sit outside just listen to outside, read, hike a little bit, maybe, hell, take a nap outside, just. But I'm not in the tent, I'm not, none of that matters to me much.
Speaker 1:I wanted something that was wedge and I was like I'm just going to give this a shot, see if I like it. I still have this tent. I haven't quite decided yet A hundred percent if I'm selling it or not. I might keep it just for the sake of the experiment here. More than likely I'll probably. 23.0 is a very good brand. It's a name brand. I'll probably love this tent. A couple of my friends have seen one. I've not even seen one.
Speaker 1:The opportunity was presented to me and they got one with an American flag on it and that's the one I got from them and so I'm really excited about it as a veteran and just kind of what I was looking at, kind of fit, my needs, fit what I wanted, that's what I got. So I'm going to eat my words there. The best offering and opportunity for me was not, unfortunately, like I even just said, last week. So I'll be doing a little bit of a review on that tent. It gets here on Friday. Now I don't know if I'm eating my words here or not. It gets here on Friday.
Speaker 1:Now I don't know if I'm eating my words here or not, but I did a tire selection podcast a while back too, where I discussed AT tires, rt tires, mt tires and I was running Falcon Wildpeak AT3s. And you notice I said was I was running Falcon Wildpeak AT3s, I had them on my stock 16-inch wheels and they did work fine. They worked fine for me. Just today I well, not today got put on but just today I installed on my truck. I just got KMC's new 729. It's a rotary forged wheel from KMC and it's a 17, so I'm not on 16. So naturally, new tires and I got Kenda Cleaver RTs and I couldn't tell you guys anything about them. Look really good, look super good.
Speaker 1:This new KMC wheel has a negative 10 offset for you Toyota people and I'll post pictures of it on my Instagram, maybe tomorrow. I mean, I gotta get the truck cleaned up a little bit. The wheels, the wheels in the truck kind of don't match grime right now, but they're. They're a light wheel. They were like 23 pounds in a 17 inch, 17 by eight and a half, but I did get the negative 10 offset so I could get rid of the spider track spacers I had. But I did get the negative 10 offset so I could get rid of the spider track spacers I had, which makes me more comfortable. And I did end up going with an RT tire. You know, again for sake of I've had MTs and I've had these ATs and they've been great.
Speaker 1:I got again opportunity with Kenda and you know, if you're going to try something out, try something you haven't had. So I went with the RT and then this is a brand new wheel from KMC. It's the KM729. And I'll put pictures up of it. It is. I mean, it looks great. I'm not a wheel guy, I'm not an offset guy. They look sick to me, they look super sick. They're satin, black. But so I have rt tires. I have nice way nicer wheels than I would have bought um from kmc. They're sweet, super sweet. And kenda cleaver rts. Now now again it might seem like oh, he's got a tent coming friday. He just put new wheels and tires on.
Speaker 1:The wheel and tire thing has been going on for quite some time. It takes time, you know you can order from Discount Tire and get your stuff together. When you're dealing with a tire brand and a wheel brand, it's not coming together. So different situation. But either way, awesome. They look sick. I mean it looks cool and I got rid of wheel spacers, which I love, so all that's probably going to be for sale.
Speaker 1:I did get five. I have a spare as well, so I'll have a 17-inch appropriate wheel spare, since it's got such an offset. Um, I will be selling my wild peaks and my spare. So I'll be selling five wild peaks, one never used and two that have. I haven't even had them a year, so I don't even know. I'll probably get a gauge, but I'll be selling those all five of them. Um, because when I had spacers and 16s, the 16 inch spare and the full size spare worked. But now I'm on 17s with an offset and it'll rub if I put that 16 inch spare on, even though it's same diameter. I'll be selling those wheels and tires for sure. Along with I got a whole bunch of stuff. I'm just cleaning out the garage, so I'll be posting on Facebook marketplace and stuff. Maybe I'll post it on on Instagram too, if some of you, but anyway, so I kind of ate my words due to the circumstance.
Speaker 1:Um, now again, I don't want to ever seem like um for lack of a better term sold out by any means I'm not gonna be here to tell you guys they're the greatest thing ever. But I'm gonna tell you guys I I don't know if I look at it as like a review, more like an experiment, because now I'm looking at it like I got a long-term review of patagonia mto2s mud tires. I've got a long-term review of mickey thompson baja bosses I had those 80s and I've got a long-term review. Now I'm going to do a long-term review. Or, excuse me, I've done a long-term review with these um, wild peak AT3Ws and I've had Falcons on a ton of vehicles. So Falcons are great tire.
Speaker 1:Um, I don't have to say anything good about these tires that I got, but I got Kenda RTs. They are. I don't have to say anything good about these tires that I got, but I got Kenda RTs. They are rated mud and snow. So I'm interested to see, kind of how that plays out with the RT. But I'll let you guys know if it's better or worse, how it does.
Speaker 1:I could tell you right now they're going to be better off-road. I mean, just looking at them, they're beef. You know For an RT. I was like damn, that's what an RT is Looks. They're beef. You know for an rt. I was like damn, that's what an rt is. Looks a lot more like my mts. But you know that that's just the way stuff's going now.
Speaker 1:So I'll let you guys know the wheels. On the other hand, I I just put them on today and just even accelerating and braking, they're so much lighter. You could tell immediately. I was like dude, this is a cat's meow. I was like this is awesome, like that was kind of like the tune. You can tell immediately that those, the wheel and tire setup is quite a bit lighter than the factory toyota wheels with wild peaks. I do think the kendas are a little lighter. I don't even know.
Speaker 1:I it wasn't a factor. I got 285 70 17s. I had 285 75 16s before. It's same, exact. I mean within a couple tenths of a tenths of an inch. It's the same thing. So I was.
Speaker 1:Here's marvin, guys. He wants on tv. Here's the marv oh boy, oh boy, here he is. Hey, guys, if you came for Marvin, he's here. He wants to be on the TV today. So I'll let you guys know about these tires. I could tell you for a fact these wheels are sick, super sick. Kmc is like a real big brand. These are super freaking nice wheels.
Speaker 1:Again, I did racing. I had some partnerships with Method when I was doing that. They that didn't. Oh, I got Onyx and Method and Onyx do their thing. That didn't not how that played out, but they are super nice guys. I can't tell you how nice these freaking wheels are. I feel bougie, like super bougie, with them on.
Speaker 1:I was like at least I looked a little bit more like a frugal individual with the stock rims. You know some, not no more, but I'll let you guys know how they do long-term review. I'll do a review of the tent. Long-term review of the tent. You know, on the podcast, just talk about it, kind of my. I will now have had, just for context, I'll have had the soft shell standard beginner tent, the hard shell clam, the clamshell style hard shell, and I will now have had a wedge and I'll be able to tell you guys the positives and negatives. You know this way or that way On all three types of rooftop tent. I have also now had 80s MTS and now have our teas.
Speaker 1:So I'll be able to tell you guys like is the RT really the ultimate, the ultimate play, or is still, is still the, you know, still the all terrain the play? Um, that, I don't know that and and I'm not going to, I'm not going to even, I'm not even going even talk about all around with that tire until probably February, march next year. We will get snow here, we will get ice here and that's what I'll have on the truck, so we'll see if it's junk or good. I mean, quite frankly, I don't know. They do have some siping so I can get into tires, but they do have some siping so they should be tight. But who knows Road noise, wear, all those things. You know I'll rotate them every three to 5,000 miles, like I always do. You know, if I get punctures and stuff I'll let you guys know. But so, yeah, so I'm eating my words there.
Speaker 1:I got RTs, I got wheels, I got a new rooftop tent. You know now it's just all over. The place right, place right. Like he said he was done with his truck and now stuff's happening to the truck well, again, like I mean, I appreciate these people, I appreciate 23 zero and kenda and kmc have awesome stuff, like it looks. You know what are you going to do. I got new stuff Freaking sweet, right. But I'll make sure to let you guys know what's going on. Everything is on the truck as it sat. Last week I bought everything, all of it and I'm going to be comparing, you know, what I spent my money on to what I have now, and so we'll see how that goes.
Speaker 1:But anyways, moving on, I have had a pretty big influx in people reaching out to me. I even put something up on Facebook Marketplace the other day and if you listen to this later, a guy was like you're the guy, you're the guy listening to your podcast and I was like that's freaking cool man. Like, I'm still just a person, I'm accessible. Like you guys can always message me personal accounts, podcast accounts, whatever. I'm just a dude. That's out here. Um, overland Expo West just happened. Now I don't know how many people are like you're crazy.
Speaker 1:I watched a few videos about what's coming out. It seems like this year there was a lot more. There's a lot of awnings and lights. I actually didn't see as much trailer stuff. So I don't know if trailers, like tech, peaked last year or not, or maybe trailers are kind of just it's a trailer. You know, it's probably kind of like you can only do a rooftop tent so many ways too.
Speaker 1:People might come out with new stuff and it might have some upgrades, but overall there's three types of rooftop tents. I mean that's what there is. So it's hard to sell somebody that's already got one, one that's a tenth of a degree different, unless they are in the market. Their family grew or their family shrunk or they got a different vehicle. Maybe it works different, maybe they want a trailer now, who knows? But I did see a lot of awning offerings. There are companies with 360 awnings now. There are companies that do two 180s, so it's on both sides that you can buy together. Oh, marvin is losing it here. So I saw I did see a lot of cool awning stuff. Quite frankly, like some pretty, some pretty sweet awning stuff really.
Speaker 1:Um, there was some innovations in rooftop tents. There was Dometic made, came out with a blow up rooftop tent that you like that, like you put a pump on. So that was super cool. I mean cool, not for me, but cool, you know. Nonetheless, interesting, and those of you that that you know follow the space, you'll know they came out with a truck cap similar to that. Not maybe I don't think domedic did, but maybe who knows?
Speaker 1:Um, I didn't see much about new power station stuff. Power stations were a couple years ago. That was a huge thing. It felt like they went through the roof with tech and everything going on with them. But it looked like a lot of light companies coming out with new unique offerings, whether they're specific LED functions, some of them that go from clear to amber in the actual light functions, some of them that go from clear to amber in the in the actual light. Um, some that go, you know, spot fog and you can even split the colors with those. Lots of stuff, light technology, and so that was cool.
Speaker 1:Kc actually had like a pretty solid showing. I watched a couple different influencers coverage of that. Um, the storyel Now was actually in their booth, so I watched his and that led me to watch a couple others about what's going on with KC man. They got some cool. They're doing some things and I'm up and again. I live near Diode Dynamics, so I'm always going to be supporting Diode Dynamics. I've had them before. I have some cases on my truck. I have some Baja designs in my truck. I'm not like a brand loyalist in lights and I don't need any lights right now.
Speaker 1:But Casey had some innovative things going on in across the product line that I saw. I wasn't there. Other companies might have been. You never know these content creators are. You know they're're sponsored, they get paid to advertise stuff, so I don't know. But it appeared from some of the smaller creators that I'm friends with and I follow that kind of went around to debunk what was out, that the casey stuff was cool. It was pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Um, there was some new innovations in truck topper campers. Packout campers was there with multiple trucks with packout campers on them and the packout camper undercuts the competition in price by, I mean, 40%, 50%. So if you're somebody like me that was interested in that, they are far less expensive, so that's. That's an option too. Um, if you're that person and you're looking into that, that's an option for sure. But so that that's there now sec. You know now I want to. That brings me back. I told you guys that's kind of be all over the place, but that brings me back.
Speaker 1:I did just get a wedge style tent. Okay of, knocks me out of the market that I was in for a camper thing like a camper topper If Go Fast Campers wants to get with me. They're an American-made company. I appreciate that about them. They were probably the first in the space. If that ever came to be a time where I was financially able to get one or we could work out a deal on one, I would get one, but I don't know that. I0 tent is the same dimensions of tent as the topper. I just can't walk through. I just can't pass through. Not that that's not a huge deal, but it's similar in that. So I'm definitely excited to try that out. It will hang over my cab. I'm a little eh about that, but we'll see. We'll see how it goes. I still don't have a swing out, so that'll be probably something that I will make. I'll probably make that.
Speaker 1:I did just buy myself Well, you know I'm going to pimp my dad that I did just buy myself. Well, you know I'm going to pimp my dad here. I didn't buy myself anything. My dad bought us a new MIG welder. So shout out to my dad Welder cart, co2 tank, the whole nine like new, new, brand new, delivered. So I'm pretty excited, excited, I'm stoked on that. Um, the welder we had is old, um, and that's not old, it's not a problem.
Speaker 1:I had been pushing for an upgrade. I I do a lot of welding in general, um, not just on my stuff. I got, you know, when I was younger. I did the whole welding certifications through the career center. So I'm certified in a couple of different stick welds, stick rods and MIG and TIG and and so aluminum. So I'm certified welder in those few things nothing like a legit, like certified welder for a living. But I'd been wanting a new MIG, like a more powerful, nicer MIG, and I just brought it up to my dad a few weeks ago and he was like, yeah, let's just get one. And I was like, well, I can't afford that. And he's like, yeah, I'll get one for the shop. So that showed up. So I'm pretty excited about that.
Speaker 1:So I'll probably build a swing out for my truck, a single swing or something. I'll just order the spindle from somebody that makes them, so I don't have to figure all that out with a micrometer. I don't want to be dealing with that. And I'll probably build my own swing out to put the super bare wheel tire thing that I got going on, because I don't want to just shove that under the truck. It's too nice, you need to see it. So I'll probably build that. I am trying to. I don't know, I'm not a video editing guy, but I am going to try and bring a little bit of content to some of the stuff I do DIY. Um, that swing out, I will probably do some content on that. I'll put put on YouTube.
Speaker 1:Um, I did my own cab mount shop, um and very, um and very I mean very, and I think it was like 15 for me it cost nothing. I used like sheet metal that I had like sheet um, an eighth inch by two well, it was like four feet long, but by two inch, one eighth inch thick. I just made my own cab mount chop and I beat in my fender wells. All that stuff and that stuff happened while I was working on what just transpired with the wheels and tires, because the tires are with the offset of the wheels and stuff. It was a oh and I knew that was going to come, so I was ahead of it, so I did that.
Speaker 1:But I DIY a lot of stuff. I mean I'll take this tent off. I'll put the new tent on. It's getting delivered to the shop. We got a tractor with forks on it. Nice For a rooftop tent, for a rack, for a lot of things. So I have a lot of amenities of shop stuff.
Speaker 1:But that's not to say you couldn't go to Harbor Freight and take the same idea that I have with making my wing out and get a $199 welder and do it like you could do it. I mean again, you don't need a $700 welder, $1,000 welder to do it. I just want that because I want to do it and make it look it's a. It's like I don't like people seeing with the lesser equipment it does produce a little lesser of a visual appeal and I can stack dimes and I don't like when it looks like I can't stack dimes due to the limitations of the equipment. Whether it's speed, you can't always control everything to be perfect. So you can weld you know as good as you want. Also, the diameter of the um, yeah, the uh rod, not rod, but the, the metal that you're welding with. So I love them a loss for the word at the moment. Sorry about that, but I'm at I'm at a little bit of a of an end point where I'm better than the equipment will let me be. So I've really wanted an upgrade, but that'll work out great for my dad too, because we got trailers and stuff and I'll weld on that.
Speaker 1:But they always say this is a saying that. Uh, there's a couple of sayings that I learned over my time doing not only this but fabricating too, and and one is if you can't tie a knot, tie a lot. It's a funny one. But there's also a saying that if you're not a good welder, just be a good grinder. So I am sick of being a grinder. That's 100 percent. I want my welds to show, so I did that.
Speaker 1:I'll probably put some content out about that, but you could do it. I will say that welding can be dangerous. You should definitely seek out some education before you just go buy a welder, before you're welding in a puddle and electrocute yourself, before you're grounding off your truck and frying your electrical system. I have a thing that goes on my battery, positive and negative. That's essentially for welding on the vehicle to protect the electrical system. So I will probably hopefully I will talk about that in the content I put out, but just putting it out here too. You will be able to do some of the stuff I will show you by yourself, but make sure that safety is paramount. Have a helmet, have gloves, make sure you understand grounding stuff, make sure you understand not ruining your electrical system, make sure all these things. So anyways, I could get into just welding or fabrication and safety with that on its own.
Speaker 1:I've had friends that did their own. Well, I have a friend that works in uh jesus, I'm losing it today. I have a friend that works in the mechanic side of things for a living and he said there was an individual diy-ing on a toyota 4runner, diy-ing their cab mount shop and there's a main wiring harness that runs right there and he chopped the freaking wiring harness. Now I did my own cab mount shop and for the life of me I don't even and I used a grinder. I didn't even use my plasma cutter, I used a grinder. And for the life of me I don't even and I used a grinder. I didn't even use my plasma cutter, I used a grinder. And for the life of me I don't even know how that guy did it, but obviously it's possible. It was a very costly situation for that individual and for those of you I keep talking cab mount chop.
Speaker 1:There's a cab mount that your wheels rub on on the inside of your, of your fender well on toyotas and there's a pinch weld as well that goes up into it. And it's extremely common to do a cab mount chop with 33 inch tires and aftermarket well, with like three inches of lift aftermarket upper control arms in 33s. It's something you almost you almost have to do. It doesn't rub at full lock or anything, but if you put any articulation into it it does rub your mall crawler. You won't even be crawling curbs without that cap mount chop. So it's pretty necessary Because the upper control arms aftermarket upper control arms move the caster back about three degrees and that three degrees back when they readjust the lower control arm actually ends up pushing the tire back just a little bit.
Speaker 1:There are shops, specialty shops, specialty off-road shops, that could keep that from happening, but those are so few and far between I wouldn't even want to like. That exists, kind of like maybe aliens, you know I've never seen one, but somebody has kind of like that or have they seen one? Is there a guy that does that alignment? I don't know, I've never had one. I've had people tell me there's people that could do it. I'm not them. I haven't had that happen. So I got alignment guy. He's good, my truck runs, it goes down the road straight. I'm not. I did the cat mount shop. I mean, that's what most of you guys are going to be dealing with alignment at a local shop, um, or finding a specific shop you want to go to. Not all of us are going to have, you know, access to like a legitimate off-road shop that specializes in suspension and alignments.
Speaker 1:So make sure you you're aware of that when you get upper control arms, once you lift a certain amount. You got to start changing things on jeeps. You got to start looking at, you got to start looking at your uh, steering components. You got to start looking at your stabilizer bar. You got to start looking at these things, making sure that they're, that they're strong enough to handle the load of the wheels and tires, and then you can end up in issues with alignment, even on straight axle stuff. So pay attention to that stuff. And again, jeeps are notorious for going out of alignment as well. Death wobble I I feel like on jeeps can be avoided with appropriate you know, appropriate wheel balancing, tire rotation and alignments.
Speaker 1:I get alignment every six months. I get my wheels and tires, like I get my stuff rebalanced every year and I get um, so I think that's hugely helped me with getting the life out of my stuff, even with a heavy truck that's lifted and doesn't have a sway bar. Rotate your tires every 3,000 miles, every six months, get an alignment and every year get your tires and wheels rebalanced. That will save you a couple thousand dollars in the end. Probably A lot of guys are like like, oh, I just didn't remember to rotate my tires and it's like, well, that was a thousand dollar, just whatever. Like rotate your tires, guys.
Speaker 1:Anyways, overland expo seemed to have a lot of stuff with awnings and lights. Um, I didn't see too many offerings with anything that interested me specifically. Lights are cool, though, and I think it's cool. I didn't see any new winch technology. I didn't see anything really new from Factor 55. I didn't see anything new from a lot of brands that I was interested in. But when you got something that's so good, why fix it? Don't fix it if it's not broke, and I think that's where it lands with a lot of these brands. They still have really good quality stuff.
Speaker 1:Man, I want to get somebody on here that's a safety person, because there's a lot there that I think could benefit a lot of people just to learn about. Unfortunately, those people get paid to teach those classes, so I don't know that they're going to be too privy to put that information out on my podcast for free, which I can respect, but that's that. So if you are that person, if you're a not safety medical, but if you're like a recovery specialist or anything like that that'd be I would love to just get on and hear about like horror stories and how to avoid being in them. That would be tight. So that's what's going on lately, that's what happened this weekend, that's what's going on with all my stuff. Um, hopefully in June, past father's day, I can finally start going camping like every week. That would be great.
Speaker 1:This podcast as much as I didn't want it to affect me going out and doing the hobby, getting it started, getting it going and it's been a while. This is episode 16, I think. So 16 weeks it's been going a little bit, but it is a lot of work and it has taken up some of my free time, so hopefully I'll get out. But lastly, if you, if you have listened, this long Big Iron Overland Rally tickets came out today. Now I've been to it twice.
Speaker 1:The only reason I will go this year to the big iron overland rally is if any of you guys are going, if anybody that listens to this, watches this, I will go. If you're going, even if it's three of you, if and you'll come hang out with me and, uh, just sit down and talk, I would love that. Um, there's definitely enough people that listen that that might appeal to somebody. I'm just a dude, but my whole crew of guys I've had Tyson on twice, but there will be people there for you to talk to that have not only been on my podcast, have been on other podcasts. If you guys want to come Now again, some of those people may go independently. They just won't be going. I just won't be if nobody's interested.
Speaker 1:This year it looked like they're doing the same thing music vendors but they're doing a swap meet. That seems kind of cool to me I've been talking about somebody needs to do that, so that's interesting. But if anybody wants to come out and, uh, do something around there september, it's the end of september, september 27th, 28th, um, not to pimp the event, I'll go. I'll get some stickers made. I'll give out some stickers. Um, if you guys want to go, it's in mineral kansas. So those of you that are listening. If you're a little east or west of that and you've never been, just let me know.
Speaker 1:Guys, if people want to go and hang out, that's what that event is good for that. If you want to come hang out with me, or, or, or or see rigs and get some inspiration, it's a. It is a really good event for that. More expo is a good event for that. It's come and gone. Um rendezvous in the ozarks is a good place to learn about wheeling. They do a lot of wheeling at that event. But really, if you want to get everybody's parked for a day or two, stopped for a day or two at Big Iron and it's a good place to meet some social media influencers, podcasters, brands, and just get around and look at a lot of rigs, if you're interested in some inspiration what people are doing, what people they've DIY stuff, how they hook it up, how they take it down, what's going on there it's a really really, really, really good event for that.
Speaker 1:But if any of you guys want to go to that, I'll go to it this year and sit around. If not, I won't. I I been there, done that. Don't have real interest outside. I getting to meet some of you guys. I didn't go to more this year, um, even though you know I had some very good asks to do that. Um, I just I just didn't do it. It was so early and it happened. But anyways, end of September, if any of you guys want to meet me, come hang out with me. End of September. If any of you guys want to meet me, come hang out with me. Anybody I mean I will. Some guys will go. Some of my guys from my my like uh group will go. It does support a nonprofit, so you got that part of it too. Yeah, if you guys want to go, I'll go. If nobody messages me, comments, does anything, I won't go.
Speaker 1:But I will be at Rendezvous in the Ozarks on Saturday Of Rendezvous in the Ozarks Saturday, I will be there. I will not be there Thursday or Friday but I will be there Saturday. So I will try and keep everybody updated. If you're somebody that goes to Rendezvous in the Ozarks and you're more on the wheeling side of things, I will be there on saturday rendezvous in those arcs and that is in october, like to october. So those that's on the schedule for me I will be over landing for eight, nine days going into rendezvous in those arcs. So I also am really going to rito to hit upau, to get a day pass and hit up that shower. I will be kind of all over Mark Twain and the Ozarks for a week, a little longer than a week.
Speaker 1:By the time you see me on Saturday, and hopefully you do see me on Saturday, that means nothing is broken. But excuse me, big Iron, if anybody. Nothing is broken but Ron, but excuse me, big Iron, if anybody wants to go, yeah, just hit me up. I don't want to be the dead horse, but let me know and I'll go and I might even talk. I don't know. Me and Tyson were pretty against it. I might talk Tyson into it too. He's been on a couple of times Based on stats. You guys like Tysonyson. So if he, we'll see it, we'll see if you guys, if you guys let me know if you want tyson to come too. Um, I think a couple of my other friends are interested. They will go um due to their own.
Speaker 1:You know social media and stuff like that marketing. It's a good, it's a good event for that kind of stuff. It It'll be your guys' best opportunity to get to sit down and just chat with me too about whatever. Get to know me a little better on a personal level. So, anyways, that's all I got this week. Guys, I appreciate you guys being here. Thanks for being here.
Speaker 1:I am not going to be doing this next week. Next week it'll be on Tuesday. I'm trying to get somebody on or at least have a pre-designated topic. And again, I'm always open to topics from you guys Like what do you guys want to know about? I'm always open to that. I can pivot and talk about any subject pretty much for an hour. But next week I'll try to have somebody on. There's a couple of things coming up with the new Toyota Tacoma Trail Hunter. I'm trying to get some content out there for you guys with that and the new Land Cruiser and the Razorback Ramble.
Speaker 1:Toyota Land Cruisers of America, the Arkansas Branch. Razorback Ramble is this weekend it starts tomorrow and you can do walk up. So look up. Razorback Ramble is this weekend, it starts tomorrow and you can do walk up. So look up Razorback Ramble, you can walk up. I think it's Jay's going to kill me. Uh, I think it's $85. If you walk in, it's at an off-road park and you can wheel and there's tons of sponsors. Again, it's not my event so I don't want to pimp all their sponsors. But you can go on Toyota Trucks of Arkansas or Toyota Land Cruisers, arkansas, razorback Land Cruisers. That's the Arkansas branch and it's all there. I'm going to see if I can find the text again real quick, but I believe it's $85 if you walk up. Registration's closed so you can't get tickets, but you could walk up and get in.
Speaker 1:They do a lot of stuff for nonprofits. They do a lot of stuff to give back. They got a lot of brands that are putting out some awesome prizes there, sponsored the event and different things. So if you're around, it'd be an awesome time to also go out there and maybe on Sunday when you're leaving you could go help clear some trees out there, because that's a for sure issue out there. Still, I won't be able to make it trying to find the Bryce here. I'm so sorry, jay, walk up. I think it's $85, $75 or $85. I can't find the text. A lot's happened since Sunday when I got the text. It's $75 or $85 to walk up. If you go to Razorback Land Cruisers, they're going to have the location and everything there. You could also join Toyota Trucks of Arkansas. If you're in the area, they'll also have the information for the Razorback Ramble, as those two things intermingle.
Speaker 1:So, anyways, that's it for this week, guys, I really appreciate you. Let me know if you're going to Big Iron. Let me know if you want to cover something specific next week as it pertains to anything. I still haven't talked, really, about power stations a whole lot I can, if you guys want to, or solar, if that's what you guys want. But either way, I will see you guys next week.
Speaker 1:I appreciate you guys all being here. I appreciate you guys listening, I appreciate you guys continuing to listen and, much like last week, this isn't my standard format go back and listen to some other episodes. There's some great topics, there's some great interviews, there's some great collaborations, um, but every once in a while it's nice to just bs for an hour. You know it kind of helps me not be so I don't know stressed for like what's it like, what's it going to be, what's it gotta be, so, and and that does occur I still have a day job too, so it's nice to just get on a ramble. But I appreciate you guys If you listen to me ramble for an hour. I ultimately appreciate you, um, and I'll talk to you guys next week. Have a good one.