Interview Kim Swartz
Check out the Jeep Talk Show’s exciting interview with Kim Swartz as she shares her incredible journey visiting all 30 MLB parks in her Jeep! Learn about her adventurous blend of Jeeping, baseball, and working remotely from the road. Tune in for inspiring stories of travel, exploration, and life on the go in her Jeep. Don’t miss this unique adventure!
I deal boys and girls, it’s time for another Jeep talk show interview. And tonight we’re going to be talking with Kim. Kim started planning this adventure, the one she’s currently on, on her way home from her 60th birthday celebration at Jeep beach in 2023. She planned and schemed until all the ducks were lined up. Oh, she got her ducks in a row. I get that one and ready to travel all 30 MLB stadiums, some, and if you don’t know, that’s baseball, some Jeep trails, some of the best sports, some of the Jeep trails, all 48 lower States and any side quests that popped up. It’s like a video game folks. Uh, it’s just her Stacy, the Jeep and her, uh, hammock out there doing the, the Jeep and baseball stuff. You know, it’s funny when I read that Stacy, the first time I was thinking your name was Stacy, but obviously your name is Kim Stacy is the name of the Jeep. Of course. So, uh, oh, and then Moab on her way home. So Kim, had you been to Moab before? Was that your first time to Moab?
I haven’t been yet. The trip doesn’t, my last baseball stadium is Seattle in September. And I’m, I live in Venice, Florida. So Moab is kind of sorta on the way home. So I took some time off work for a couple of weeks so I could do that.
Okay. So are you going back and forth between these things in work or, cause I got the feeling you were just traveling from place to place, uh, this, this entire time.
I’ve, I’ve done it in three legs so far. The first one I did the Texas stadiums and Florida to, cause I, we literally built the Jeep for this trip. And so for the first expedition, I wanted to take it out, try it on a couple of trails, get on the road, put a couple thousand miles on it and bring her back home to my mechanics, my freelance mechanics guys at home. And work out any adjustments that needed to be made at that time.
And, uh, then I took the second leg of the trip, which was up the East coast. And I had to be home for fourth of July. Cause I have family that comes on the fourth of July. And then I left for this leg of the trip, July 10th, and I won’t be home again until probably October.
So I’ve only been to a Moab twice, both times, Eastern Jeep safari. And I always bitch about the 20 hours it takes me to go from Southeast Texas to Moab. You being in Florida, what, what kind of a timeframe or yeah, what kind of timeframe is that that must be close to like 30 or something hours?
I really don’t know because the way I’ve learned so much over the last few months, but the way I’m doing the trip is in segments because you know, the way you eat an elephant is one bite at a time. And if I looked at this whole trip, I would just get overwhelmed.
Oh yeah, absolutely.
So all I did was I bought tickets to the ballparks on the days I was going to be there and I see it. I’ve not planned to drive. I’ve not planned a hotel or a stay or any of that until the day of.
Sure. Sure. Um, so, uh, you, you mentioned, uh, you’re driving your Jeep, you have, uh, the freelance mechanics, would you call them YouTube certified mechanics that, uh, when you said the freelance, because it sounds like they’re not necessarily certified, uh, legally.
No, they are actually the name of the company is freelance mechanics. And the heat is they are, they are actually real mechanics. They’re young and, uh, um,
but they’re, they come to the house and they let me help.
So we’re building it out, especially traveling back like that, because knowing how it goes together is really important for you to know if you hear a noise or you see a problem, how serious it is. And if you need to stop driving and tow it someplace. All right. So, uh, now we, before we got started, I asked you about your Jeep. Tell me about your Jeep again. What, what, what, what, which one is it?
Um, she’s a 2019 JL.
Um, Oh, wow. A very rare two door kudos on getting out. Yeah.
No, I, um, it was really funny when I went to buy, they were like, Oh, you need a four door and you need this. And I was like, you need a hard top. And I said, no, I know exactly what I want. Yeah. Listen to me. And that’s what I got. Yeah.
I may be a girl, but I do know what I want.
So, um, you knew, or was it a used one?
Um, she was used, uh, had it. She’s a 2019 and I got her in 2021.
Okay.
And then we started the build outs in 2020 to 2023.
Is it a, uh, 3.6 liter engine in that one?
Yes.
Okay. Uh, standard or automatic?
Automatic.
Yeah. The automatic is, uh, we’ll make it nice on those long trips. Um, so, uh, the, um, how many miles did you have on it when you got it?
Uh, when I got her, she had like.
Just under 50.
Oh, that’s good. That’s real good. Especially for putting all these miles on it because you want something that, uh,
relatively low mileage. So, um, how, uh, how has it been? Uh, where are all have you been so far?
Okay. So I started in Florida and I did, um,
the Ocala national forest, cheap trail. And then, um,
I did the parks, Miami and Tampa, of course, I’m a season ticket holder for the Tampa Bay race. So I was at all those gangs anyway. And so then I drove to Arlington and Houston and that’s when there were the floods of biblical proportions in Houston. And I’m from the land of angry water. So I was like, what is this?
People don’t understand the kind of flood in the Houston area.
No, we do not. We do. I do now from a personal experience. I really do now. And so then I went home and made a couple of adjustments and got, um,
some things together that I needed for the camping that I wasn’t, uh, two together on before I left the first time. And so then the second time I went up the East coast and I did Baltimore, DC, Philadelphia,
Pittsburgh,
Boston, New York.
Uh, I think that was the entire East coast. And then I came back down and did Atlanta and then was home for a couple of weeks and now I’ve done 23 of the 30.
Have you done this much driving in your, in your life in the past, or is this really some lot, really new long distance stuff?
It’s some new long distance stuff, but I’m trying to, the way I’ve got the parks spread out and my timing between the parks, I’m usually keeping it between six and eight hours of driving a day, if that much.
Yeah, that’s a good idea. So, uh, being in Southeast Texas and again, uh, actually the furthest I’ve ever driven, uh, is, uh, is Moab, Utah, which is like I said, 20 hours earlier. Um, and, um, uh, fortunately, uh, one of the Jeep talks, your team members, uh, was going and he rented a house like for the night. So he, he picks about halfway or about how long he wants to drive the second day. And we went, uh, I think it was Amarillo, uh, last year. And it was, uh, somewhere in New Mexico, uh, this year was that the quote unquote halfway point, it’s a little closer for him, uh, because he’s in Austin, so it’s like a two, three hours closer for him. So that, that first day, my wife and I drove up there, um, to the, uh, to the rent house that he got, and it was, it was a long drive. I think it was like 10 hours and, uh, I drove the entire way and it was, it was a very long drive. Um, but, uh, the other thing I learned, and I don’t know if you do this or not, the other thing I learned again from, from bill was, uh, the, the team member that we had the, they had the rent house, um, is, uh, he only goes, uh, till he gets to half a tank and then when he gets to half a tank, he finds a place to stop and, uh, and get fuel. He says that’s about as, uh, as long as he can go, uh, kidney wise too. So it’s, it makes a good break for, for using the bathroom and getting fuel. And cause I’m the type person where I get down to a quarter tank before I start looking for fuel, uh, and
it can and I have learned this is a tidbit that, you know, I’ve been driving for 50 years. Did you know that gas mileage is affected by elevation? Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
Well, see, I didn’t know that. And so I was like,
leave them Florida. I’m getting 15, 16 up in the, uh, Boston area. I was got like 17, 18 miles to the gallon and I was, I was okay. I can’t trust this. I don’t know how far it’s going to go. So the Jeep has, um, this function that tells me exactly how many miles I have left in that tank. So when it’s get, when it gets to a hundred miles left on the tank, that’s when I started looking for a gas station.
Yeah. Um, I don’t know if you noticed this or not. Uh, this was last year, uh, Bill was in his three 92. I was in the 2021 Jeep talkshow gladiator. Uh, and of course we both, and I think you do too, I have the, the tire pressure, uh, sensors, uh, in the, uh, in the rig. So, uh, we were talking back and forth on the GMRS, uh, about the tire pressures. Cause the, your tire pressure of course goes up as you go up in altitude. Cause there’s less pressure pushing on the tire. And, uh, gosh, we were getting up to around 40, 45 PSI on these off-road tires and I usually run mine at 35 PSI. And it was really funny. And I wonder if that is part of the reason why the gas mileage goes up because effectively your tire is getting harder. There’s less contact patch on the surface of the ground and it, it allows the, to run a little better. I don’t think that’s just yet, but I think that might be part of it.
Well, I talked to a guy cause you know, we’re always talking to guys and he’s about, you know, talk to that guy about the Jeep. And he said that a lot of it has to do with the, the quality of the air and the air pressure and the intake somehow. And I’m like, yeah, whatever. I just know I need to keep it closer out on my gauge.
All right. So anytime anybody is in New York or they went to New York, I have to ask this question. Did you eat any pizza while you were at New York? Cause the only reason I want to go to New York.
It is, it is the law as in when you go to Wisconsin, you have to eat cheese curds. When you go to New York, you have to eat pizza and I’m not a big pizza fan, but I was like, okay, I have to do a New York slice. So at the Mets game, at the Mets game, I did a New York slice and it changed my world.
New York pizza, New York pizza is different. Well, they say it’s the water. It says that they say it’s the water and the dough. That’s what I hear, but it, it hits, it hits way different. So yes, I did.
Yeah. It’s funny.
I got a slice in New York.
Uh, I was up at, uh, EJS last year and I was at the Tyree lights booth and Cole was there and we got on the discussion cause they’re in, you know, they’re from Wisconsin. So I had to talk to him about cheese. I’m a big cheese fan too. Uh, I’m a fat guy. How could I not be excited about cheese? And they were talking about, Oh yeah, you gotta have the cheese curds. You have to have the cheese curds. I went, really?
It’s the law. It is the law. And for some reason I, and I texted several of my friends and I’m like, why does Wisconsin smell so good? I mean, I kept the windows rolled down the entire time because the whole state just, Oh, this is, Oh, you gotta love this. So I’m thinking it’s the cheese.
If, if on your way to someplace, if you go through Amarillo, I don’t think Amarillo has a, a baseball park, maybe they do. Uh, but if you’re, if you go through Amarillo, keep your windows rolled up. Uh, we went through, we went through there twice. It is not a good smell, but it does smell like there are places.
Yes, there are places that you have to keep the windows rolled up and the vents off. So yeah, I found a couple of those too.
So this Jeep isn’t just a Jeep taking you to baseball parks. It’s a, you take it off road as well, right?
Yeah. Yeah. And that’s, like I said, that’s what we built it for. I told the guys, I was like, look. This is what I’m doing, but I’m also doing all this too. So I need to do the trails and I’m, and the reason I’m doing Moab on the way back after I finish everything is because I need to finish everything. And I don’t know what I’ll get into in Moab. So if I break down, then that’s where I want to break down and they can just come and get me and haul me home, but I want to get on my baseball parks. Yeah.
So I didn’t do much wheeling this year. Uh, I hated that, but I primarily went to help promote the show and get interviews with people and stuff. So I love getting off road, especially in Moab, but the first year, uh, I did do a lot of off road stuff and, uh, I didn’t have any issues with anything breaking. This year, when I went back, I made sure I had the, the motor built, uh, skid system on the bottom of the gladiator. And so I have used it. Protected everything. Oh yeah. Oh, it’s wonderful. It just, even if you, even if it doesn’t do anything for you, uh, emotionally, it makes you just feel great because you know, you hear your safety net. Yeah. You hear a scrape, you hear a loud noise, you go, screw it. That skid system. That’s what I’m hearing. What do I care? Give it the guys give it to beans.
Well, that’s when I got, when I got home the first time after being, uh, no, we actually, it was the second time. Cause I did some trails in Pennsylvania.
Um, and when I got home, I had the guys look at it again, cause I needed a dead pedal rest and a couple of other things. And, um,
yeah, I did a little damage. There were some scrapes and some Carson and Chris were yelling at me. What’d you hit here? What’d you get? I’m like, I don’t know. It’s a Jeep.
It’s a Jeep. Exactly. And they put, they made the mistake. I say mistake, um, of putting cameras on the front of the Jeep for me.
Well, yeah. So I can see what’s, but the problem is, is when I can see, I have a tendency to go a little too fast and I might catch air, but you know, I don’t have a spot or so they, you know, they put cameras everywhere. So I’ve got cameras on the side and cameras in the front and cameras in the back so I can see what I’m doing and make sure I don’t do too much damage.
So, uh, how long have you had this, this 2019 Jeep?
Uh, three years. Okay. So had you wheeled prior to this Jeep with another Jeep or maybe another off-road vehicle?
Yes. I was born and raised in Eastern Kentucky.
So I grew up off-road and for wheeling and we had this.
So this wasn’t new to you at all.
No, no, I’m trying to get my daughter into it. So she’s got a FJ cruiser.
And so I got her to do a little off-road and last Thanksgiving. So hopefully I can get her more interested in it.
What did she think? Is her FJ built up at all or is it stock?
It’s stock, but she enjoyed it. She had fun. She just, you know, when you’re first starting, you’re a little timid and, you know, you gotta, you gotta work your way up to the big stuff.
I mean, we all are, unless you’re crazy or stupid or both,
especially whenever it’s a vehicle that’s a very expensive vehicle, like an FJ cruiser or even your vehicle is considered to be expensive to go out there and trash off-road, I mean, you do, you do with it what you want to do, obviously. But a lot of people have problems because, uh, you know, it’s like my $45,000 gladiator, I don’t want to, I actually, I had a mandate the first time I went out to EJS, she, my wife says, don’t take it out of there. It’s nice. Don’t, don’t tear it up. Honey, I don’t tear anything up. And if I, if I do tear something up, I fix it.
So, you know,
Well, that’s, you know, a lot of times you’re out on these trails and you see the people that I say they’ve got more money than they do since.
Oh, I see a lot
of them. And so, yeah, they throw, you know, thousands and thousands of dollars in the Jeep and then just drive it off a cliff just to see. So yeah, no, I’m not, I’m not stupid. I’m adventurous,
but not stupid. Yeah. I think a lot of that has to do with impressing the peers and I’m not interested in pressing the peers. If they want to be impressed on, you know, God love you, go ahead. But I’m not going to be doing crazy stuff. Uh, there’s, there’s a reason why they call Jeeps tacos and that’s getting air, uh, because you talk on your Jeep.
That is the germs.
All right. So looks like you have some accents on that, uh, that Jeep. Is it like a silver and purple? I just saw it briefly. I can’t remember.
Yeah, it is the, it’s the billet. Can you see?
Yeah. We got a full screen.
And yeah. And I’ve got great accidents.
Oh, that’s a nice color. Uh, and is that, is that the stock, uh, top of the stop, uh, stock, uh, a soft top, uh, from Jeep?
Yes, it is. Yes, it is. And it’s probably going to need to be replaced right after my lab. Oh, really? How come? What happened? Is it, is it just, well, I’ve got it, it is. And I’ve got some little pieces of cloth hanging and it flops a little bit. And I may have got a little wet the other day.
So, um, we’ll see what happens. So are you going to go back with stock or are you thinking about best top or are you thinking about somebody else?
I haven’t really looked at it. It has to be soft.
I can’t, you got all this time hanging out in the hammock and you’re not shopping online. I mean, even if it’s future shopping, I mean, come on.
I’m working. I’m also working full-time on this trip. Yeah. I’ve got a, I’ve got a full-time job and I’m, I’m doing that as well. So it’s not all just driving and laying around.
The view has to be really interesting from the office then. That’s what I’m thinking.
It is. It is. I can, uh, um, send you pictures. Oh good. Yeah, please do. But yeah, they, yeah.
So, uh, were you aware of the show before you and if you Bob met up on Tinder?
No, sir. I was not. So I’m not, I’m not a big social media person at all.
So, so tell me, tell me about the, the F U Bob, uh, uh, U interface. How did that happen? Because I know, I know you’re teasing about the Tinder, but if you’re not, please tell us, cause we could really use some ammo for giving Bob a hard time.
Well, that’s it. That’s the thing. The Tinder, I’ve got a picture of the Jeep on my Tinder app and you know, and you know, my profile is, look guys, I’m traveling around the country.
I want to meet people. I want to see what’s going on. And, um, I got out here and Bob’s, I never swipe first, you know, I, you got to swipe on me first cause you know, I’m, I’m just like that. If you don’t want to meet me, then I’m not going to go out of my way to try and meet you kind of thing. So, um, he swiped and I swiped back and he said something, I think it was nice Jeep. And I was like, okay, so that’s where this is going. All right. So I knew that, you know, he probably wasn’t interested in a date. He was more interested in talking Jeep. So we started talking Jeep.
So let me, let me just mention really quick. I don’t want to screw, screw Bob over, but if Bob’s, uh, profile, uh, has, if he has hair in it, it’s fake. It’s fake hair. But Bob does not have hair.
He does not have hair. Does he have a really nice beard?
You’re asking the wrong person. Uh, he, he does have a beard. Bob’s Bob’s a good guy. As you can tell, we call him F U Bob. So, uh, he actually, he actually has a shirt that says, uh, but has the full, uh, full calorie words on the back of his shirt. Uh, and, uh, yeah, we did he mention about our discord server to you?
He did not.
So, so I don’t know anything about discord.
A lot of things go on. It’s like a 24 by seven chat server where you can just get on there and send text messages back and forth. It’s a, it’s kind of like the Jeep talk show community where we get on there and talk stuff. And of course we talk shit about each other. And that’s one of the reasons why I was looking for ammunition on F U Bob. Cause we’ll, uh, we’ll be using this, uh, to give him a hard time. Bob, Bob’s not on Tinder for a love match. He’s on a town, Tinder for he’s looking for Jeeps.
Well, I did ask him, I said, okay, so, so I need to know.
Where do you want me to be flirty? Do you want me to be professional? I mean, you got to tell me, is this about the Jeep or do you want to go out and grab a drink?
I’m guessing Bob is more into the professional.
You see where I’m trying to strike three for me. No,
no, you don’t want to be a professional woman. Uh, well that’s really funny. So, uh, yeah, we, we, we, we really appreciate that. So, uh, let me ask you this and please, you can, you can answer absolutely. Honestly, have you checked out the show, especially since you have all these hours of driving time with nothing else to do?
Well, I have, and I just, um, I was listening to a couple of episodes. I saw that y’all have the chick. Chick chat. Chick chat. Um, and I listened to a little bit of it and I’ve listened to a couple of episodes. The thing is, is I’ve forgotten how much I hated being read to, you know, when my daughter was little and they bring it, send her home from school and say, she needs to read 20 minutes, I’d send her to a room and shut the door, go read, getting there because I can’t stand for anybody to read out loud to me.
Podcasts are an awful lot like people read it.
It really is. Uh, the, the ones that are very good are certainly like that. Right. Actually one of the, the comments that we’ve had, uh, made to us as far as you need to be a conversational, nobody likes writing the reading type thing. Things. Exactly. That’s what we try to intermingle. Sometimes when we do news stories, uh, there is some reading there, but it’s really, uh, read a little paragraph and then get the host of their host involved in, uh, what they think and what they’re caught, you know, so a basis and conversation, yeah, and then go with the conversation conversations are so much more fun anyway, and you never know what kind of shenanigans that are going to happen when you have a conversation.
Exactly. What’s going to be said and where the conversation is going to go.
You got to be alert. Well, it’s like I tell, uh, tell the host, uh, the, there, you can get any information you want off the internet, Google, you know, just do a Google search on it. The only reason why they’re on a listing to our show is because of who we are. So we have to be who we are and some people aren’t going to like it and some people are going to love it. And that’s just the way of the world. Well, I’m glad you given us a, given us a holler. Are you going to be, uh, listening or giving us a trial listing to some of the episodes, uh, are you going to be listening to your interview or are you one of those, uh, like those actors that don’t watch their own movies?
I’m not a professional. This is my first and only interview. So of course I’m going to listen to it.
That’s great. What, what got you on to do? What, uh, what, uh, not encouraged, but what made you make the decision to actually do an interview with us? Yeah.
Because what I’m doing is fun and a lot of women, you know, that I’ve met out on the road and people that I’ve met are like, Oh, you’re doing this by yourself. And you know, you’re this and you’re that. And I’m like, no, I pee when I want. I eat what I want. I sleep when I want. I don’t have to make sure somebody else is comfortable on the road or having a good time is, you know, it’s, it’s selfish,
but I’m having a good time. Yeah. And I just want, I want people to know that you can do this. Just go. You know, I was, um, I live in Florida and Florida is a very angry place right now. So I was looking around, you know, thought I’d interview the country basically to see if I could find someplace that’s a little less angry. And so far, no doubt, but we’ll see.
So, um, yeah, I mean, you, you, you have a really good point there as far as, um, the, the fear factor in doing this. Sometimes the fear factor is, uh, the, the breaking down of the vehicle. Sometimes the fear factor is, yeah, guys, I’m there on the, on the lens. You guys are watching this on YouTube and you can wipe that off if you want to. Don’t worry about it. Um, and just be careful how high you bring up that, uh, that shirt shirt.
Although I don’t think we have a rating on YouTube. So it might be all right.
No, no PJ, no PG stuff. No, I’ve got on a cute sports bra. So if you saw it, yay.
And if you didn’t, yay. So, uh, have you had any close encounters, but maybe it turned out to be nothing, but you were a little concerned. Like, what is that noise? Who’s missing? I mean, you’re, you’re camping out in a hammock, right? So you’re in the open whenever you’re sleeping.
Can you see the hammock? That looks nice. Yeah. It is. It really is. Um, no, I’ve absolutely I’ve been at, I was a little concerned one night when I woke up and somebody had put two ducks on the Jeep and I didn’t wake up and hear them because that, that concerned me a little bit, but as far as, um, being worried or scared or danger or anything like that. No, now, uh, ballparks, they have made a industry out of building them in the worst parts of town.
So, you know, if I get to a ballpark early and I want to go to the park or walk around, I can’t, it’s not safe. You can’t pull over, you know, just anywhere around a ballpark and take a walk unless it’s built for that reason. Like the ones in Atlanta and there are a couple of places where you can do that. But for the most part, your ballparks are not in the best areas of town. So it’s best not to
think about that. Yeah. That, uh, that could, that could make a really interesting thing. Do you find that having a unique vehicle, uh, makes you more of an interest? Uh, I think everybody loves Jeeps. And if you see a Jeep that’s modified, uh, and just the accent colors alone or, or enough to keep people on, this is a modified Jeep and, and people may seek you out or talk to you about it. Or it’s always made me nervous. Anytime we go to a restaurant or something, I like being able to sit where I can watch the Jeep quite often. I just see people checking it out, but, but I want to know if there’s going to be a problem or not.
Well, I’ve, um, it’s starting to rain, so I’m going to actually move in. Side the Jeep. But as the funny thing that I’ve found as, as I have put more stickers and I’ll show you those on the window for all the ball parts,
more, yeah, more people are talking to me. So there’s that.
Yeah.
Take your time.
Okay. Yeah.
Um, so, uh, oh, you know what? Um, so you really haven’t had any issues. Have you, have you had people come up and talk to you about the Jeep or the ballparks or both?
I have had a lot of people, um, come and you know, they’ve seen the stickers. I had a guy, I was driving out of Milwaukee the other night and he jumped in front of the Jeep, leaving the game. And then, uh, said, I have to get a picture. I have to get a picture. And I’m like, well, try not to get killed while you’re doing it.
Yeah. So, but yeah, that’s funny. Uh, was he a jeeper or was he just somebody that, uh, yes.
Well, he was a, he was a jeeper and a, a baseballer and he had been to, um,
like 15 of the parks so far.
Do you run across a lot of people doing similar things to what you’re doing? Jeep or not?
Yes. And, but generally the, and they call them chasers, the people that go to all 30 ballparks or they have a technical term called chasers and a Facebook page that I know nothing about, but, um,
most people don’t do it all during one summer. You know, they do five this year and five next year and that kind of thing. Yeah. And just spread it out. But I figured I had a ticking clock.
So I needed to go ahead and get it done while I could.
So, uh, if you don’t mind me digging a little deeper, the ticking clock, what is your ticking clock? Is it just your desire or do you have something that’s going on that’s forcing?
Um, no, I’m 61 years old at my age. I’ve got what one good decade left of traveling and doing the fun stuff that I want to do, so I figured I better get it done while I could. Sure. No, your activity levels go down. Your desire to do anything goes down. You know, you get old and you quit and I just don’t want to do that yet.
Oh, very good. Uh, that’s, that’s, we’ll, uh, we’ll switch gears on that inspirational note.
So, uh, oh, I wanted to loop back to your Jeep. Um, what modifications have been made?
I have, um, two sheets worth of, you know, listings and stuff.
Um, she’s got a four and a half lift and then I’ve got, um,
I’ve got the pins in that I can pull and take her up to six if I need to. But the guy said, if I had to go to six to just put it in park and to stop and call them before I went any further. Um, so then I’ve, you know, I’ve got my Falcon shocks and, um, the sound system is amazing. Like I said, they put cameras all around to make sure, you know, I’ve got spotting when I need it. And so we had to upgrade the interior of camp. I’ve got a 10 inch.
Mount for my, can you see that?
I see a head of a duck and some little character and now I see, is that a point amount that you have on there?
Absolutely. Yeah. We interviewed the there’s John D there. Now can we see my stinger system?
Yeah. It’s a, it’s really zoomed in close though. So, oh, sorry. That’s all right. Uh, so you basically replace the, the, the stock head unit, uh, in there and, and that supports the cameras. Is that, uh, one of one of its features, the stingers features.
Yes. It supports the cameras. Um, plus my rear view mirror is a wolf off.
So it’s got a dash cam and a rear view camera too. So I’ve got basically two rears, two fronts and two stops.
Does it record as well? Or just, uh, just show you live, uh, live live, live shots.
It records as well. Oh, that makes it nice so they can find out for themselves what you hit. So for the, the damage and stuff that you don’t get anything underneath, uh, that, uh, any cameras underneath so that you can actually, uh, you know, spot rocks to make sure you’re getting up
on one of the ones up front on the left driver’s side, base is down so that I can spot rocks in the inaction. And that’s, that’s the dangerous camera because that’s the one that says, Oh, well I can go a little faster because there’s nothing on the other side of that.
And then did you, did your phone pair with your, uh, your head unit? It kind of sounds like you’re coming through your speakers now, instead of the headphones.
It did. There we go. It did. And now I shut the, yeah, I shut the Jeep off so that it picked back up on my headset.
Yeah. Yeah. It made quite a bit, what a bit of difference.
All right.
Well, it sounds like you’ve gone, that’s all right. So it sounds like you’ve gone through a lot of stuff. Was this things that they suggested to you or did you tell them what you wanted to do and they came up with the solutions?
Well, I told them what I wanted to do. I, and we basically brainstormed and ready lift. My guy Carson, if he calls ready lift now, they hang up on him because
he, he, it got, it got ugly there for a while. Before he made them understand and they were like, it’s not a kit. And he said, I know it’s not a kit.
I want these parts though. And so now they’re talking to him about actually building a kit.
Yeah. See, they learned something that’s just to listen to customers.
That’s exactly right. This is what I wanted. This is how I wanted to do it. And then they, they put it together for me and built it out.
Uh, has there been anything that was done to the Jeep that you, in retrospect, uh, wasn’t necessary or wasn’t what you had planned on? In other words, it really didn’t matter. You, you thought it was something you wanted, but it just, it just in the big scheme of things, or at least so far, it wasn’t a big, a big deal.
Um, so far, no, the best thing that I did do, um, is we deleted the passenger seat and I put up, they put, built a platform for it. And so I’ve got a freezer and my solar panel charger, I’ve got a solar generator. And so that’s on my passenger seat on a platform there. And so that’s been, uh, that’s been the best thing I did. Cause people are like, Oh, well I’ll meet you or I can go. No,
no, you can’t. I don’t have a passenger seat. I don’t have a passenger seat.
So yeah. So you, you work, you’re working out on the road. Are you using a laptop, uh, to do your work?
I am. I have a laptop and, um, um, I work closely with my IT team and they were showing me something the other day. And I was like, I was on the laptop and, uh, I said, well, I’m on my laptop and he said, well, this interface wasn’t built for a laptop screen. And I said, well, I’m only going to be on my laptop for the next three months. And the next day I’ve got a monitor.
I was just going to say plugs into my laptop. Those little things. Uh, cause I mean, once you’ve gone multiple screens, uh, it’s just like, you can’t go back. Oh, yeah.
You cannot go back. Uh, so, yeah.
They got me this special monitor.
So do you have a setup where you can put the laptop and have it hold? Cause I was thinking you were going to say that the, the, the, you don’t, you have something to hold the laptop over on the passenger side now. Is there a way for you to, uh, not have to hold or have the laptop in your lap while you’re working?
No, no, no. Um, I love gas stations, quick trip gas stations, Taco bell, any place that’s got a plug, I go in, sit down, plug in, set up my monitors and go to work.
Did they ask you to leave after six hours?
Um, no, I usually I rotate between places. I’ll stay somewhere for like two hours and I always order something, even if it’s, you know, like just a Diet Coke or something, but I’ll stay one place for two hours. Like this morning I got up and went into loves, which is three or four miles from where I am on Colorado right now.
Do the same thing that you’re doing.
Or I’m basically an over the road driver. I’m basically a truck driver doing my job. And, uh, so I went there for a couple hours this morning. I came back. There’s a place across the street called rookies. It’s got a real nice little setup. So I’ll go there at dinner time tonight. Cause company I work for is based in California. So there are a few hours behind what I call real time, which is Eastern time. And don’t get me started on time zones. Cause I’ll show you,
I actually had this correct you central time is God’s time. So anything else is not God’s time.
See, I, I’m going to have to disagree with you.
You’re wrong, but you can just, you know, no, no, no, no, no. Eastern time is real time. I don’t know what you think of the rest of it. And it’s funny because everybody at work knows how bad I am at time zones. So with this traveling thing I’m doing when they request a meeting, they know to text me like 30 minutes ahead of time. It came, the meeting’s in 30 minutes. Are you somewhere that, you know, you’re in the right time zone? And I’m like, no, but I will be.
So it’s, it’s interesting. This is kind of a pet peeve of mine. I’ve been in it for many, many years and you learn in it, especially if it’s nationwide or even worse international, you have to tell people what the time zone is, you can’t assume they are in your time zone. Well, the team, the hosts and stuff, I’m having to reiterate this several times because I mean, they’ll tell me a time and I’ll go, is that central time or Eastern time or specific Pacific time? Without this being draconian about it, I just want to say, you can’t just assume that I know where you live or I’ll remember what time zone you’re in. So it’s really important. And this is a public service announcement for everybody that just throws the time out there without a time zone. It’s like whenever people say I 95 is closed, there’s a big fire. I saw this big fire on I 95. I don’t remember. It’s a, I don’t remember I 95 in the Texas area. So it’s like, where in the hell are you talking about? Well, you know where it is that everybody else that knows I 95 knows where it is, but I don’t, is this going to be a concern for me? You know, that type of thing. Right. How does this affect me? Exactly. That’s what’s the most important. It’s how it affects me. Exactly.
Well, really cool. So is there, uh, is there any craziness that you’ve seen? Cause you’ve been on the road for several hours. Is there any craziness that you’ve seen or maybe had any problems with people that were, uh, uh, mad or, uh, maybe some pre pre-us owners that were upset with you, uh, damaging the environment by driving a, uh, this, uh, gas hogging Jeep.
Um,
I did in the floods in Texas, see a woman on top of her Rubicon four door, you know, it was.
And so I pulled over and was throwing the winch out and the tow truck pulled up behind me and I was like, I’m letting him do this cause I’m not getting in your mess. But she was on a side road, I guess.
That’s right. You know, Texas has those frontage roads. We don’t have frontage roads much in Florida.
Yeah. Um, and so there was a ditch between the frontage road and the interstate, but it was full of water and she didn’t know that. So she was on the frontage road and then just went off in the ditch and that was it for her.
That’s too bad. People laugh at me because I have a snorkel. I have an XJ that I bought brand new and then we got the gladiator, uh, and I have a snorkel on both of them and they get, they laugh at me. Uh, and one of the things they’ll say is, well, did you hook up the transmission? Did you hook up the airline for the differentials? No, I didn’t. I may get around to that, but I’m not planning on going through high water. This is the situation where if I get into a situation and I make a mistake or I get in a situation where I have to go through high water, uh, I can get the other stuff fixed later. I just need to get the, the Jeep to get me through it and sucking water down the intake is not going to get you through it. Uh, making milk, uh, milkshake in your differentials or the transmission failing later, that’s later. So yeah, I’m a snorkel fan.
We just got to keep it moving forward.
Exactly.
And we can fix everything else later. Speaking of Texas and you being in South Texas,
the hell is up with this? I’m driving down the back roads of Texas, right? First off, your speed limit is 70 miles an hour on a back road. Are you kidding? I’m from Eastern Kentucky and I wouldn’t dream of driving that fast.
Do you know what Texas is? We got to get going if we want to get anywhere.
And I understand because you know, Kansas actually makes the speed limit 75 so you can get through it faster. But so I get pulled over, you know, with the floods and I’m driving down this little back road and I know I’m not speeding and this trooper comes up. Well, it goes over to the passenger side, dude, you ain’t going to get shit over there. You’re going to either have to come to me over here on the driver side, or I’m going to have to come around. And so he came to me on the driver side and he said, do you know what’s over and I was like, well, I know when speed.
It’s it’s watching for the floodwaters. I don’t know. He said I had too many forward facing lights for I was like, what do you mean too many forward facing lights? I said, I’ve got my fog lights and my headlights. He said, yeah, and he said, you’ve got these lights over here on your side.
Were they on?
Yeah. Yes, but they’re on the side. And he said, you’ve got these lights on the side. And I said, well, yeah, I’m driving through flash flood warning conditions right now. And I want to see the water when it comes at me. So I’ve got my stitch lights looking at the ditch in case, you know, a flash flood goes
forward facing their side face.
No, they’re, you know, they’re ditch lights.
Right.
And I,
he said, well, those are considered forward facing. I said, go stand in front of the Jeep.
He was like, what? I said, stand in front of the Jeep and tell me those lights are forward facing.
And he was like, well, now ma’am. And I was like, that’s when I realized I should probably shut the fuck up and, you know, just kind of go with the flow. So then then I started.
He gave you a ticket. He gave you a warning.
No, he gave me a warning. Yeah. Cause I was like, I’m from Florida. Yeah.
I’m surprised he got out of the, the, it must not have been raining at the time. I’m surprised he got out of the pro car.
I was like, how did you even spot me? You know, what were you doing? What are you doing out here? It’s probably what I should have said.
No, but no, you were being safe. You were using lights for, for safety. And I’ve got a lot of lights. I mean, I’ve got a two, four, yeah. I’ve got six forward facing lights. Uh, and, and frankly, if I’m going through a situation where it’s not safe and I need lights and also to, I’m not blinding other people, that’s, that’s important to the other people’s safety,
then I’m going to use them and they want to pull me over. That’s fine. We’ll argue the point. Give me a ticket. I’ll argue the point to the judge and tell them exactly why. And I have a dash cams similar to what you do. I have a dash cam so I can actually show the evidence as to why I was running all the lights that I needed to run and show it what it was without the lights and what it was with the lights. So that’s interesting. So, um, yeah, so I think it’s cool that you got to experience the, the flooding and, uh, and Southeast Texas. A lot of people don’t have any idea about, and how quickly it can come up. And, uh, the underpasses, the ones that, you know, you’re, I mean, I tend, they, they, they dug the thing so low so that the people going over the highway or the freeway don’t have to go so high, but those things are, I mean, you can get 20 or 30 feet deep of water in those things. And yet people still drive their cars into it, which is amazing to me.
I do not, I don’t get it. If I don’t know definitively where the bottom is, I’m not going in. Right.
I mean, that, that just never can tell that something has fast moving water has washed the stuff out. So, I mean, a lot of the, uh, a lot of the underpasses have a measuring stick and you can see what the, I mean, I don’t know if everybody understands what those little lines and the white, uh, the white bar and the 16 and the 20 and the 20, you know,
and the dirt.
Yeah. And I don’t know if they’ve realized what that means or not, but I mean, you, you take off in there is like, well, if I get enough speed, I’ll, I’ll coast across. Uh,
you will not. Yeah.
Well, um, what a really interesting thing you’re doing, I’m hoping, and, and what would you say percentage wise you’re done with here? Are you, are you 15, 30, 50%?
23 of 30. So I’m close to 70% up. That’s a math. I don’t do math.
So, right. So yeah, I’m an it, the computer does the math. Um, so, uh, you’re, you don’t do the social media, but you are on Instagram, right?
I did Instagram so that, um, my friends and family could keep up with me and I wouldn’t have to send, I’ve got four different people who have location on me. So they know where I am at all times. That kind of thing.
Um, so, uh, is, do you mind sharing that? Cause I mean, I’m going to take pictures and showing the trip and the things that you’re doing, right?
Yes. Yeah. It’s jeep scape, two diamonds, the number two.
And, and tell us what, uh, what, what, what does that mean? How did you come up with that one?
Um, if you can, if it’s, if it’s a family, I already did.
Well, the, the, no, the, the diamonds, diamonds are baseballs. They’re baseball.
Right. That makes sense.
Right. So I’m doing a jeep scape. I’m escaping in my G to the baseball. Oh, I see. You skipped a diamond.
So you made this Instagram account specifically for the trip. Yes. All right. Well, so you can go over to Instagram and you’re not on any other social media, right? No Facebook, no tic tac, uh, no, the Pinterest or any of that stuff. Right.
Nope. All right. Snapchat, but that doesn’t count.
Yeah. Well, is tender considered to be social media?
We’re talking about my Tinder.
You can find Kim on Tinder at blah, blah, blah, blah.
That would be me. Just, just ask if you Bob. So, uh, this is cool. So you can follow Kim’s trip. Uh, she’s about 70% done, uh, jeep scape to diamonds. Uh, and so this is cool. Diamonds are a girl’s best friend and sometimes it could be baseball diamonds that are the girl’s best friend. That’s, that’s really cool. All right, Kim, thank you so much for doing this interview with us. And, uh, I hope that you enjoyed doing the interview with us today and I hope you listened to it and give us some comments back. Uh, and of course you’re more than welcome. I know it’s social media, but you’re more than welcome to join us on our discord server and maybe get a little entertainment from other jeepers while you’re out there on the road.
So, all right, I’ll look around, see what happens. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me.
You’re my friend, you’re my new friend.