Outskirts Overland Podcast
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Outskirts Overland Podcast
Overlanding Excitement: Mapping Mastery, Winter Survival Tips, and Midwest Adventure Gathering
Experience the thrill of overlanding as we kick off this episode with an adventure-packed update featuring the best in mapping and connectivity tools. Discover how OnX Off-Road's color-coded trails and satellite imaging can elevate your trailblazing experiences, while the WeBoost Reach Overland keeps you connected even in the most remote locations. Relive the excitement of the Big Iron Overland Rally, where good food, great company, and a few spicy hot sauce escapades marked the start of the camping season with a relaxed, festival-like vibe.
Anticipation fills the air as we celebrate the grand opening of Midwest Adventure Outfitters in Crocker, Missouri. Hosted by Benji from Newfound Overland and Midwest Overland, this event is set to unite the community with food and camaraderie, offering a perfect reunion for adventurers. From upgrading our rigs with kinetic ropes and rock sliders to sharing personal trail tales, we highlight the ever-growing sense of community and the shared experiences that bond us overlanders together.
Brave the chill with insights on winter camping, where we tackle icy conditions armed with the right gear. Learn about innovative solutions like stick-on heated pads and screw-in stakes for stability, along with practical tips for optimizing your winter gear setup. We'll explore our switch to a stainless steel Swiss Army knife and the benefits of electric chainsaws for quiet, efficient trail work. Join us as we recount the camaraderie and adventure at Rendezvous in the Ozarks, and don't miss our reminder about next week's meetup. Get ready for an episode filled with the spirit of adventure and community that defines the overlanding world.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to Outskirts Overland. It's been a while I've been busy and a lot of things going on. So anyways, before we get started, I want to kind of run through my supporters and different things. So first things first. If you guys want to use Onyx Off-Road or you're looking for a new mapping software or a way to look for private land versus public land, onyx is great for that. They've now rated their trails so they're all color coded, so no longer all the trails green. You got green and blue and red and different things. When I was out this past you know month multiple times, I found that plotting waypoints was a lot better and easier as well, so I found it to be to work really well. It's also got satellite imaging, so you get a little bit of like that google earth with your, with your mapping, with your um routes, and then it'll tell you what's public and what's private and different things. Like it's just by far the best. If you guys want to uh, want to get 20 off, you can use the code global overland 236 and it'll get 20% off. You can use the code GLOBALOVERLAND236 and it'll get you 20% off of OnX Off-Road. They also have different sales that go on at different times. They've got a lot of promotions that go on.
Speaker 1:Next thing I want to talk about is and I'm going to talk about it again I talked about it quite a bit last time I was on. But I want to talk about WeBoost. So I have the WeBoost Reach Overland. Actually, if you're watching now you could see it behind my Zargus box. Here is my WeBoost. It actually works phenomenal. If you are interested in getting a WeBoost, it's not a huge discount but anything helps. You can get 5% off using the code Outskirts. It'll get you 5% off your WeBoost. They are actually a supporter of the podcast, and the only one. So if you guys are interested, that's something to look into. It's like I said, they do support the podcast. Wouldn't you know if I didn't think it was a good product, which I do? It's a. It is a great product. There was even comments made which I'll get into later. The we boost is great and you can get five percent off using the code outskirts. And then, if you, if you get a chance and you guys, go find this on YouTube and you can look at my truck here. I do have both new Sherpa racks on my truck, the short rack for the front and the pack height rack in the rear on my truck. So if you guys are in the market for truck racks or anything, I am extremely pleased with these sherpa racks. Um, they don't do anything, I don't have a code or anything, but they're priced competitively.
Speaker 1:Amongst other things also, what you will see is I've got some magnetic trail armor on my truck that is from meek magnet m m, as in mark e, as in eric k, as in kevin. Magnet it's, but it's said meek magnet. Um, it's a pretty cool design where it goes from, you know, kind of a grand black camo to a black topo. It comes right on and off. It's magnetic. It's great. Also, kmc wheels, kenda tires, 23-0 um, they've been. 23-0 has been great to me. Um, again, not really a sponsor, but they're there. Um, hey, what's up? Brian? Brian said good evening, um, so that pretty much covers my sponsors and stuff.
Speaker 1:So it was the week before Rendezvous. I did a podcast Excuse me, big Iron. So I went to Big Iron Overland Rally, which is more like a music festival kind of more like just a sit around with your friends party. It was a good time. The weather was cooperative. There was awesome food trucks there. We had a great time. I do kind of like that event. I do and I don't. I actually met a lot of people, new people and people that listen to the podcast slash stream here. I gave away a lot of stickers. I have saved some for some folks still that I'm shipping out with some other goodies. You know who you are. I got some other stuff for you with those stickers that I said I'd send you. So anyways, but it was a great time.
Speaker 1:We really just sat around. Everybody kind of rolled in at a different time. My friends and we just kind of sat around and ate and drank and, you know, listened to music and we were kind of closer this year to the stage and everything. It was a good time. We went to some classes. It's really just pretty chill. There's no driving anywhere, there's no wheeling, there's no nothing.
Speaker 1:But if you're looking for you know what, what I like to use it for is just kind of a kickoff to the, to the new season. You know I don't really have a season of camping and not camping, but it's kind of a nice little break where you can sit somewhere for two days and just chill, you know. So it's a good time. Bomb food trucks they had taco food truck there Tried fried Oreos for the first time. It's pretty cool. We also, you know, sabotaged ourselves with hot sauce. Was pretty brutal actually. So it's we're always getting into hot sauce escapades. That's maybe if I could get some of my friends on we could tell stories. But so you guys know too, I do have portable mics now for my phone and the WeBoost pretty well gets me service anywhere.
Speaker 1:I watched Sunday night football out in the woods or Thursday night excuse me, thursday night football out in the woods with my Wii Boost. So it was. I mean, it works, like I don't know what to tell you guys, it works. So I'll be able to do some streaming, maybe even just recording audio of us talking. That I'll upload later, you know, cause it'll be dark. But I've got wireless mics now compatible with my phone so I can do more of that, or compatible with my iPad or whatever Um, so that we can all chit chat. I also have multiple of them and they'll merge so like different people can wear them so you can hear everybody Um's new. I've been working on that in this time off.
Speaker 1:But yeah, rendezvous is a great time. Just fun, chill, relax. You don't have to tear anything up, tear it down. You're not breaking anything, getting stuck, nothing Great time. So that was a few weeks ago I don't know quite a few and yeah, it was a good time. Yeah, my buddy said he was trying to get me married off to the old lady that was next to us who, by the way, made the trip kind of phenomenal because she was cooking and she was up with us too, drinking and getting up early and cooking she was. She's went hard in the paint. Um, some other folks camped by us and they had to go into rito, but based on rendezvous in the ozarks, excuse me, based on our recommendation. So that was cool too. Um, yeah, but a lot of people. So that good time.
Speaker 1:Big Iron, if you're into an event to just chill, it's a good one. Yeah, it's a great one. I think it is great. Yeah, she won the cooking contest. She definitely won the cooking contest. She won the mixed drink contest too. What was it, cody? What was it that she made us in that that big thing? She made us some type of drink that didn't taste like it had anything in it, but it definitely did, but it was a good time and that's what that event is.
Speaker 1:That event is a party period, like it's a party. You're not going anywhere, you don't have to worry about driving anywhere, it's a party. That event is like overland party period um, and it's a great time. I love it for that. It's a good, that's a good place to sit and meet people, because then I'm going to go into I, I go to um, excuse me, I go to big iron till sund come home. I'm home. That you know work week. Then I go back out, then I go back out early in the week. So I'm back, I'm home Monday to Sunday. Then Monday, monday go out again, Tuesday, whatever. The next week I go out. Rendezvous starts Thursday, but I go out to the Ozarks prior to that, so I'm out that whole time and that's a unique event.
Speaker 1:I did meet a lot of people, but different because I did do a lot. I did a lot of wheeling and that's a unique story in itself. Like we weren't planning to go to Rendezvous, I say we, my group of friends, weren't planning to go to Rendvous. I say we there were, my group of friends, weren't planning to go to rendezvous, we were going to do something else. That ended up not being. That didn't work out for anybody except me and my friend Johnny, which those of you that have been listening to this since it started. That's nothing, me and Johnny camping together, nothing unusual. But we did decide to just stay at rendezvous to sleep. But we wheeled. I mean, we wheeled all the days. So what's up, benji? We wheeled all the days. So I did a lot of wheeling. So it was hit and miss, like if I met people, if you were there early in the morning or late at night, I got to, you know, get around and and socialize and stuff with different people. Um, and it was a good time.
Speaker 1:Benji, when is your um launch? I would like to, uh, put the details of that all in here in the chat and I will get those out to everybody for sure. Hello, kate, are you coming with your Italian intellect today, or is it Sicilian? It's a joke, guys. Anyways, kate is Benji's wife and me and Benji turned rendezvous Saturday night into quite the party as well, and Benji turned Rendezvous Saturday night into quite the party as well.
Speaker 1:So Benji's from newfound Overland, as also Midwest Overland. He's opening a new shop. The opening for that is in Crocker, missouri. It's November 23rd, from 11 to 2. Crocker, missouri is the grand opening for his new shop and, yeah, it's going to be great Midwest Adventure Outfitters, correct, I believe it's Midwest Adventure Outfitters. It's going to be an overland camping shop. We're all really, really excited for that. So if you guys are anywhere near the Midwest, look it up. He's on Newfound Overland and also his site for the shop as it gets going and I always have my Midwest Adventure Outfitters. Perfect, here we go, guys. Let's go ahead and I'll put it up on the screen for you guys here and we'll talk about it a little bit. Yeah, it's a Sicilian woman. Yeah, that makes sense, right, jesus, anyways.
Speaker 1:So here is Midwest Adventure Outfitters. Adventure outfitters has been his new shop coming out. November 23rd from 11 to 2. There is an event and you can camp there. They're going to do like a some friends giving things and different things. But either way, go over to newfound overland because it is his podcast and it is his shop. He will talk about it in depth.
Speaker 1:But if you guys are looking for somebody else, if you're coming here from him some of you are if you go to him from me, that would be great too. Me and Benji are friends. Perfect, I would love it. Check it out, though. We're all really excited about it. There's not an overland shop real close to us here, so give that, give that a look. Um, so brian, just brian, just. Well, I got a lot going on here. So benji's commenting midwest adventure outfitters got it. Yeah, I messed it up at first, but I got it now, and kate, his wife, is.
Speaker 1:They're saying's going to be a party again. We're going to have a good time. It's going to, there's going to be food, there's going to be, there's going to be good people. It's a good time, and I'm finding myself a lot more now. I mean, there's a, the community in overlanding, and those of you that are listening right now, you're very aware it's getting smaller. So you go to these things and you've got like really good rapport and relationships with people, so it's almost like a I don't know. I don't even want to use the term reunion, because now I'm seeing these people regularly. We're playing in trips, we're all kind of going to the same things.
Speaker 1:Polar bear camping club is coming up. A bunch of us are going to that. Like we're kind of turning some of it more into events, even if it wasn't type thing Like stuff's just hey, come on, you know, let's do this thing. It's turning quite a bit more into our smaller community around here getting together more often, which is awesome, and I do think Benji has something to do with that. Now opening this shop, you know all of us it's a new reason for us to get excited.
Speaker 1:That's something that's coming out. It's going to be great. We should all use it. It'll be fantastic. It's just a good resource. There's other good Overland shops around me too, but I have a feeling like I work with I do stuff with Chad at Overland Addict, but I have a feeling they're going to be differentiated enough to where you can spread that love. So that's great. I can't wait to go to his open house camp. Eat some smoked turkey. It'll be great, I can't wait. So make sure you guys at least go like his page Midwest Adventure Outfitters. It's on Facebook and Instagram page Midwest Adventure Outfitters. It's on Facebook and Instagram. Midwest Adventure Outfitters Also. Give him a follow newfoundoverland. I mean, both are him, but you get what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:So, anyways, rendezvous, a lot of wheeling, did a lot of wheeling. I kind of got off track on a tangent there. I did a lot of wheeling. I just bought a kinetic rope. This is a kind of a funny story and I'll lead into something. But I just got a kinetic rope before rendezvous, like just just did. I was in the Ozarks for a day and I'd already used it. Somebody had to pull me off a rock, um, so I was happy to have that Um.
Speaker 1:But as you guys see, my truck is complete now. Um, I'd been talking about it for weeks. It's complete. Seat delete, um, it's two seater now. Trucks done, all done, complete. You can't see it all in the picture that, that's in my background, but it's complete. Trucks done, um, till something breaks, which I did. Uh, I got new rock sliders on the way cause I tore those up so and I kind of wanted new ones anyways. That's also kind of a funny story.
Speaker 1:If Johnny pipes into the chat, I should put the chat on the screen Actually. Story if Johnny pipes into the chat, I should put the chat on the screen actually. If Johnny pipes up in this chat, the story is pretty good. So let me get my design off of here For those of you listening. I'm sorry, I'm all over. Top of the screen is most recent chats, so anyway. So I ordered new rock sliders, um, and it was a good time, yeah, so wheeled a lot, use my kinetic rope, use my winch.
Speaker 1:But one thing I wanted to talk about that I was this is like the diesel heater I was so against this item, like, and I mean so against this item, and I I'll tell you what I've talked about the Jetboil on here, and I use a Jetboil flash. It's like a quart liter liter probably jet stove thing, and I use it. I do use it a lot, but, man, I use my DeWalt electric chainsaw a whole whole lot, and that was that was something that I was going to say. You know, like I bring it with me, man, I use that chainsaw all the time and it's something that a lot of people don't have and I ended up using it for other people. Like there's instances this this last weekend, um, this last weekend, with, uh, some bigger Jeep Gladiators that couldn't get through places and my Tacoma would, but I just cut down some trees, like we made it work. It was, it was overgrown anyways, like it was not a big deal. But there was a group of them probably, I don't know 10 probably and none of them had a chainsaw. So I use it all the time and really, quite frankly, I don't use it enough and that's why my truck got jacked up.
Speaker 1:So Johnny's talking about me ordering rock sliders. So the story here is I was like I'm gonna get rock sliders and we'd been drinking, and then I was being real quiet. So Johnny's like get rock sliders and we'd been drinking, and then I was being real quiet. So Johnny's like what are you doing? And I was like nothing. And I actually had ordered myself two separate, two separate sets of rock sliders. So on Monday morning when I checked my bank account, I was like oh, okay, well, I needed to fix that. So I ended up getting one of them returned and we're good now, but anyways, yeah. So Boondock Haverlock, brian, he said I was looking at getting electric saw so I don't have to carry mixed fuel, 100%.
Speaker 1:I have a 12 inch DeWalt chainsaw and I have an Amazon case for it, like a box case, and I folded a towel because it's going to leak. It's going to leak bar oil. It's going to leak bar oil, but you don't have to carry fuel and it's also. I'm real big on being discreet. It's quiet, like I have red lights everywhere. I don't really do fires, chainsaws quiet, like I talk loud, but that's the loudest thing we got going on.
Speaker 1:I am a big fan of that chainsaw. I made fun of people with those chainsaws for a year and then I got one and now I use that thing all the time. It's something that I think I paid. I got a DeWalt and from everything I've seen, from everything I've seen, the DeWalt, the Milwaukee and the Echo are the best. I just got a DeWalt because I have other DeWalt stuff and I got chargers and batteries and different things.
Speaker 1:But it was like $250. And for something I can use at home on the trails, $50. And in for something I can use at home on the trails and I'm using it that regularly. That's a pretty. I mean that's. That's pretty doable. For a lot of people you could justify it as a home purchase. Even I do have big chainsaws. I do wood on the side like sell wood.
Speaker 1:I have big power saws but that little guy works great for anything and everything trails and. But I don't have the little handheld guy. You guys have seen them there. If you're, if you're somebody that's in the market for the little handheld chainsaw, I'll be the first guy to tell you you can get that done with just a sawzall and it'll be a little cheaper and sawzall blades are cheap too. So you just fyi from a guy that's done it. Don't buy the little little chainsaw. If it's that handheld one, just get it. Just actually get a sawzall. You can just do it with a sawzall. So just fyi. Um. But yeah, chainsaw, something I used a bunch. Um, yeah, I, I got no complaints with it, it and I've used it 200 times in the last. I've had it for years now at this point I've had it for years, so I've used it a bunch. It's in my truck all the time now that I got the seat delete and but that's a whole lot of stuff's in my truck all the time now, um, because I got another car and that's why I do kids and groceries and stuff with that Trucks, just trail toy. So yeah, chainsaw was great, but yeah, rito, we wheeled a bunch.
Speaker 1:I got myself into some situations. Really I took Tacoma on 33s. Just shouldn't again. I'm just, I was by myself again. I get bored. I start looking at topography and I'm like I could probably make it. I can't see nothing about ruts, trees, what's down, anything, rocks, trail blockages, like you're only as good as the map data is updated. So I was on some stuff I shouldn't have been on in a tacoma on 33s, maybe 35, maybe 35s would have done me a real solid. But then you ended up in 12 50s and, I don't know, made me too wide. So maybe I was in the best, maybe I was best suited in what I had, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Nonetheless, my skid plates tell me they were. My skid plates were more like ice skates down some of these trails. I went on, which I'm happy. I have skid plates and that's exactly what they're for. I'm happy I have steel bumpers. I mean I hooked up the rear of the truck to have somebody pull me off a rock with the kinetic rope. I used the winch like recovery gear was used Soft shackles, hard shackles, kinetic rope, the winch, like all of it, was used at Rendezvous for me. And that's not because my truck's not capable, it's just I was in places that I shouldn't be, period. I mean, everything else around me was aep on 37s or 8s or 40s and I'm in my truck that's heavy on 33s, so just wasn't what I should have been on.
Speaker 1:The next couple of days after that I was with johnny and we actually didn't do anything too crazy at all and that was fun. We did stuff that was moderate, fun, fun, technical enough but doable, and that was that was that. That was a lot of fun. We made that work. I still wouldn't have done it in a stock vehicle but you still would have needed a modified vehicle to make it happen. But it was great.
Speaker 1:I really enjoyed those trails and I don't. I don't I don't ever give out names of stuff here, so I've just we're in the Ozarks rendezvous in the Ozarks. Is it Mulberry mountain this year? I thought that attendance was way down and if anybody from natural state over in land listens to this, feel free to DM me like direct message me and I mean I'll help you guys promote that event. That's. That is the event for people that want to learn how to wheel, wheel with new people, learn how to do like recoveries and different things. Ozark 4x4 was out there Huge, huge recovery education guy Like I plan to have him on here in the next couple of weeks, um to just to talk to you guys about that.
Speaker 1:Recovery is what I'm starting to. The more I wheel and the less I want to regear more and lift more and get bigger tires, the more I find myself wanting more education on recovery, because I am recovering, self-recovering a lot in some instances. Now the rock I got hung up on this last time I had to get pulled back. I don't have a winch in the rear, so I actually just sat on my truck, threw the rope out and waited for somebody to come up the trail to help me out, which they did. That's fine, I just waited a little bit, no big deal. But I find myself looking at recovery stuff a whole lot and getting educated with that. I do have a decent If your average person knows nothing.
Speaker 1:I know more than the average person, but I'm not not at all an expert in recovery. I have been overlanding a lot for a lot of years and, quite frankly, a lot of what I would consider overlanding is just camping and easy, very light, moderate wheeling. So nothing, nothing really like what I do when I go to the Ozarks. I wheel pretty, I wheel pretty hard just because these gravel roads are boring and it's a good time. It's a good time, I love it, but there's a lot of good people. I mean, I gave away 100-so stickers at Rendezvous.
Speaker 1:I partied with Benji and some new people, some people I'd seen, some people I'd been out with before were there that I haven't seen in a year or two and I don't know. We just had a good time. So I was really happy to to get to hang out with those folks. Brian from Boondock Taverlock came down all the way from North Carolina. Um, he kind of did what I did. He was out on the road early, um kind of making his way down Um, but he's from way further than me. So but we had a good time and had a campfire Um, we had a Howell campfire out there, h-o-w-l Howell Um, which again is something that Benji had Midwest Adventure Outfitters, but it was something that that Benji had had. That thing was just awesome. They're so cool. So I was really into that.
Speaker 1:But yeah, just just a lot's been going on trucks finished, new racks, roto packs, uh roam cases in the back, my batteries in a milwaukee pack out. I got a Zargus case on the top seat, delete in the back, new radio in it. I've got a Midland 50 watt now WeBoost like the truck kind of went. I spent a bunch of money on it getting it fixed and kind of went to. What have I wanted to just do with it. Let's just do it now, because once it got, once it was down there for a month or whatever at the body shop I really kind of don't want it to be down again. I want, I like, to go regularly.
Speaker 1:I was kind of losing my mind by the time. Uh, big iron came around. I was getting pretty antsy, um, like, like bad. So that's just something. That's just something with me. It's good for my mental health to get away sometimes and just camp and or, you know, get away, just get away from light pollution and concrete, and it's a good deal. So I was pretty well losing it. So truck's done. Now I don't have.
Speaker 1:The only thing on order right now is frame sliders. I have the ones on it welded on. I scraped a hole in them and there's something I think I've told you guys before. They are something that I got very, very, very, very cheap from a brand. That brand and me have nothing to do with each other. My truck is just on their website with the product on it. It was a new product. They reached out to me. I put it on. They're not DOM steel. I mean they bend. They are bent, not into the truck by any means, but like the crash plate on the bottom. So not something I'd recommend, but the price, unfortunately. The price was right and they do look good. They look great, but yeah, so it's just time for me to get something that's actual protection, literally like everything else on my truck. So I ordered some from RCI. They do not again that's a's full price buy. That's nothing new here, um, but I heard some RCI frame sliders so I'm pretty happy about that.
Speaker 1:That'll be the last thing, and that wasn't really a force. I knew it would come. I didn't think it'd be right now, but here we are. Last thing I want is rock sliders that are ineffective, so for sure, um, so those are on the way. But after that truck's done, um, I've been real happy with it. It's done everything I need it to do. Um, yeah, I'm just real happy with it. I am actually quite proud of the truck at this point. It's way more than I ever thought it would. It's way more than I thought it would ever be. So, but hopefully you guys see me out, hopefully you guys get out.
Speaker 1:I said it last year. Well, I guess it still was this year. It was this year I have put out in the universe that I want to camp on a frozen lake. Not in my truck, naturally, my truck will get me there though, but I want to camp on a frozen lake. So I'm looking at I might go north. Well, I'll have to go north from where I'm at in Missouri to do that, but I've been looking. There's some. Again. Onyx has like and I mean, it sounds like I'm selling out here, but Onyx is just so good, like if you need to go look at something. It's just it's the way to do it.
Speaker 1:So, anyways, I've been looking to try and find stuff. You know I'm looking for smaller bodies of water so I can be a little more confident in the in the ice. But which brings me to Cody, if you're still listening which brings me to looking. I mean I'm looking at, like, hot tent camping, so that might be something that you might want to tag along with as well as you. I know you're into that as well.
Speaker 1:But guys, I, I, I am into overlanding and wheeling in vehicles. No doubt I like vehicles in general, but I am also very much so into just bushcraft. You know, off-grid camping, canoeing, kayaking, mountain biking, like it's not just overlanding. I'm not a one-trick pony here. So and I then there's once in a while I want to do, you know, an open bottom tent and hot tent type deal tarp, know, um, it's just fun for me, it's challenging, so it's fun. You know, dehydrate your own food, pack it, carry it, so I re. So I'll probably do something like that and I'll I'll give you guys a feet, some feedback on how that goes. Um, I have done some like igloo style camping in the mountains before and so I have some decent knowledge base about like the kind of the safety concerns with that. I'm actually pretty highly trained in that. So lots of stuff with that. The government paid for me to learn that. I've kept, you know, kept honed, so pretty good with that.
Speaker 1:But I really want to go camp on a frozen lake, maybe more than once. So I'll probably be looking at. I know there's companies where you can like fishing outfitters where you can like rent ice fishing tents and stuff. I don't know there's something I'll invest in. I'll look at what renting it costs first, buying it or somebody has it, you know, to try it out. But I definitely know I want those screw in stakes. I do know that. So those of you guys that are Midwesterners but you're like northern the more northern Midwesterners from us here in Missouri. Any advice you guys have, any advice you guys have? Johnny said Colorado in December has some ice lakes, and although I appreciate that Johnny you're probably laughing right now, but I will that is not happening. I'll go somewhere a lot less treacherous in the ice and snow, unfortunately so. But yeah, I want to do that. I will go a lot this winter.
Speaker 1:Diesel heaters, running power stations going. Been thinking a lot as, with that though, the power stations. Last year a bunch of us had our power stations outside with our diesel heaters and we had trouble with our power stations just eating it. And one of the classes which was really good they brought up that you can get like stick on heated pads that'll like warm up. So I, you know I don't by no means know what these are yet. I haven't looked into them because my stuff's in a Milwaukee pack out now I'll throw hand warmers in it personally, but my friends that don't. I'll probably be experimenting with some of these stick on patches with like little plastic tubs. You know, put the plastic tub over the power station, stick one of those on it and see how it reacts to that Um, and see if that helps them at all, and that stuff, just that stuff I like to do because sometimes I just want to see if stuff works.
Speaker 1:You know, I want to have that knowledge in my back pocket when that scenario comes. But uh, I got the idea of putting my power in a milwaukee pack out from chad at overland addict and that, and that is that's great, that's fantastic. I drilled holes in it, I put grommets in it, like they're watertight. Cords are tight, that's great. And if I ever want to take it out I just unlatch it from the milk. The pack out base, that's so good. Fully waterproof, locked in place, good to go, like, like great, that's so good. I am very happy that he brought that to my attention. I can't say enough about how that has worked for me and how I've been happy with that. But Milwaukee Packouts aren't cheap and I'm not going to be donating four of those to my buddies to see if that's the solution. I'd like to see if you can put them in a you know, cut a little notch out of a Tupperware box, you know storage bin for the cord, and put one of those slap-on patches on it on the inside and see if it melts the plastic or heats the system or doesn't work at all. Like I'm interested in that, so I probably play with that.
Speaker 1:I play with stuff a lot. Something else as far as gear goes I'm a big gear guy, you guys know that, but something I did just buy and I talk about redundancy a lot, but sometimes I find stuff that's just it would be the right thing if I was doing something different. So, for instance, I carry a Gerber multi tool, but it's like raw metal. Well, it's inevitable that I'm going to be in situations with temperature fluctuations, dew water, mud and I kept having issues. I kept having to wire brush my Gerber tool. So I started to look at different things and I ended up finding myself with a Swiss army knife. They're stainless steel so it's going to be a lot easier to keep those up. So I actually have gotten rid of the Gerber for a legit like a bigger Swiss army knife. So just stuff like that.
Speaker 1:And this is what I'm talking about. Like I'm constantly. This is outside the box stuff. Like people are like Swiss army knife. Yeah, everybody's known about that forever. But if you look at all the people in this space, they're all doing. You know knives, they all got knives, edc knives, benchmade knives, which I have, those things. But sometimes I need a saw, some scissors. You know I use my multi-tool. I got a little wood wood saw in it, a file you know like. So I found a Swiss army knife that has those things in it and there's just.
Speaker 1:If you guys take my advice on, you know, maybe if you're looking now at Leathermans and stuff, they rust and they're hard to open. It has been a huge nightmare for me, but I haven't. I didn't think of a Swiss Army knife until, like, I was in a. I was in a store like a ski store and they had like a ton of them and I was like, well, that's got everything I need, but they're just so you guys know there's like a ton of them and I was like, well, that's got everything I need, but they're just so you guys know there's about a million of them. So do your research, make sure you get the model right. I didn't make that mistake, but I could see how it would be very easy to do, but it's, they're nice. Um, that's going to be my solution.
Speaker 1:Now I'm ditching the Leatherman. I just carry a pair of needle, nose pliers and the in my tool roll, like that's the only thing the Leatherman had that that Swiss army knife doesn't, and that's easy enough. They can get as rusty as they want, cause they're like $3. Don't care, won't affect any, won't hurt me at all. So, yeah, I to swiss army knife. I think that's going to be a huge game changer for me. Um, it just got everything. Like sometimes you need that stuff and you get in there and your leatherman's all gross and they got so many moving parts like getting the folding them out and different. It's just a huge pain. So, anyways, went backwards to that, yeah. So another thing that I recently did I was a pretty big croc guy and I got a pair of hay dudes randomly. They've actually been great for camping as well.
Speaker 1:Camp shoes are always something I'm a little on the fence about because they get dusty, they get tore up, you got to wear socks. Socks stink and get dirty and your feet get wet, and so I'm always kind of looking for like what's something that you could wear socks with when it's cold. Also, you could dry quick. I don't like doing bags for shoes on the outside of my tent. I got a thing on the inside and I like to slide them in that. So I don't want anything bulky or with too much tread that I can't like clap off. You know, hey dudes seem to actually be the call there. Yeah, they're great.
Speaker 1:Actually I had Crocs. They got jacked up. I decided to go with some hey dudes. I had them on in the water, they dried out, quick shower, whatever, no problems. I had them on in the water, they dried out, quick Shower, whatever, no problems. I think they're cheap enough too. So that's slip on, those bad boys are worth doing. And they float too, which I now know. So that's also nice. Crocs float too, though. So, yeah, just a little bit of stuff, just fine.
Speaker 1:Tuning stuff, learning about some new things that I want to test out. Yeah, that's about it. Been out a lot, nothing really new. As far as gear is concerned, I mean I would definitely put an electric chainsaw on your radar if you're anywhere wooded especially. You know we've had a lot of storms in in the united states and we've had a ton of storms and there's a lot of down stuff. I mean, I could see having an electric chainsaw being something you could have made use of amidst these, these, uh, hurricanes and stuff. Like I mean a lot of this stuff's multi-use right, like you can use it for different things. And then that swiss army knife, like it shouldn't rust as easy, like that's been a huge pain in my pain in the butt for me for a year probably. So then when that finally clicked in my head, I was pretty psyched about that and then I waited for a sale on them and bought one. I mean it wasn't, it's not the end of the world, so but yeah, that's what I got going on.
Speaker 1:I'm going you guys will hear this for the first time here I'm going on Friday to Van Do it to do a tour of their facility and look at maybe starting to build a van. I'm not getting rid of the truck, but I am looking at what it would look like to start to get into. Well, you don't really start. Look at what a van build looks like, how much it costs, what it entails, how to go about it, and I'm going Friday. They have a tour set up for me Friday. I've known that for a couple of months. I haven't really said anything to anybody, but it's in a couple of days, so I'll say it now. But so I'm going to van do it. They're somewhat close to me here and I'm going to look at what it to build a van with them. So I'm going to be doing that.
Speaker 1:I'll. I'll tell you guys about that next week when I'm on, just like what that was like. I will hopefully get some pictures and videos and different things. You know, whatever they'll let me take, you know I'm going for myself as a consumer, I'm not going for the purpose of the podcast, but I I mean they are aware I have a podcast. So, um, I'm sure they assume that I will also film some content if they'll let me. So anyways, that's about it.
Speaker 1:Next week I'll go over anything I think of between now and then that I didn't cover, also going to look at um. Also going to look at, um, yeah, vans and build outs, different things and options. I'll go over all that and then I'll probably start getting into checking out Polar Bear Camping Club, pbcc, if you're in the Midwest. There's one in Arkansas, missouri, kansas and Oklahoma. They're all on a different month. They're the second weekend Of every month, except December. So November, january, february, march. Check that out. Check out Benji Midwest Adventure Outfitters On November 23rd from 11 to 2. Check that out. If you guys want to have cell service, where you don't have cell service, go check out a WeBoost Outskirts 5. I'll be talking about those for the rest of my life. That thing works phenomenal. Yeah, so that's that.
Speaker 1:Anyways, I'll catch up with you guys next week. I'll be back next week. It will be Wednesday. Wednesday next week 630. Same deal, same stuff. I'll be here trying to get back in the swing of doing this. Just been doing a lot of travel, so hope to catch you guys later and I will see you next week.