Episode 1014 – First Car, First Jeep?
It’s back!
Tuscadero Pink returns to the 2024 Jeep Wrangler
Tuscadero Pink debuted on the Wrangler back in 2021, demand for it was so strong that Jeep was compelled to extend production into the 2022 model year just to fill existing orders. It disappeared into Mopar’s color vault after that production run was completed, but Jeep’s marketing people know a hit when they see one. Sure enough, Tuscadero Pink is back for the refreshed 2024 Wrangler.
30,000 Tuscadero Pink Jeeps were ordered in 2021. What is it I tell you people? All Jeeps want to be RED and at the very least Jeeps should be bright colors. When you have superpowers you should be wearing super colors!
Tuscadero joins Anvil, Earl, Firecracker Red, Granite Crystal, Silver Zenith, Hydro Blue, Bright White, Black, and Bikini teal in the 2024 Wrangler color palette. You can order the 2024 Wrangler in Tuscadero starting today for $895 on the Sport, Sport S, Willys, Sahara, Rubicon, Rubicon X, and Rubicon 392. For now, you’re limited to a black hardtop, body-color hardtop, or black soft top. A Sky One-Touch power top in Tuscadero will be available by summer.
First car, first jeep?
My first car was a 1973 Pontiac Ventura. It had a 3-speed manual on the floor (with a Hurst “T” handle shifter) straight 6-cylinder that would do 105 mph (eventually). No A/C, no power steering, no power brakes, manual windows, and an AM radio. For a 16 year old it was glorious!
My first Jeep was a 1998 Jeep Cherokee XJ. It was (and is) glorious!
Newbie Nuggets with Wendy
Using a Spotter – part 1
When you first drive your jeep, it’s pretty similar to your regular daily driver on a highway, until you decide to go off-road and you come to an obstacle. Now here in Big Bear, we don’t have simple rocks to climb or basic obstacles. Rocks tend to be spread out into one long continuous obstacle. Being new it was hard for me to comprehend the line I needed to pick and the way the jeep would handle the terrain. This is where a good spotter comes in.
Using a spotter is essential for Newbies to get through the more difficult obstacles. You are gaining all kinds of nuggets on how your jeep navigates through the obstacles and you are learning how to feel and understand what your jeep is doing while climbing over an obstacle. Hopefully, you have spatial awareness of your Jeep’s width and length (episodes 468 & 471 can help with this). A good spotter has some great qualities and I’ve discovered not all are created equal. I was fortunate to have my husband, Bill, as my first spotter. His entire life of off-roading and Jeeping gave me confidence that he would keep me on the right line and get me through the obstacle, giving me a solid foundation of what to do and how to do it.
One of the most valuable qualities of a good spotter is being patient and calm. This allows you, the driver, to also remain calm and get through the obstacle with ease. A good spotter gives good and clear commands. This may seem obvious but I’ve seen all kinds of weirdness out there from double commands to yelling (especially husbands to wives) to giving the wrong commands, to you name it. As the driver, you decide who will spot you. It’s your choice to use a spotter, or not, AND to choose who will spot you through. If you feel more comfortable with your significant other, like I did, then that’s your choice. If you want to use someone else in the group, then do it. And narrow it down to one, not three spotters. That gets very confusing.
There are some things you should be aware of that will help you when using a spotter;
1) A spotter is essentially an extra set of eyes to guide you over an obstacle that you won’t be able to see once you start your movement and you’re on top of the rocks.
2) The spotter’s job is to help you “line up” for that obstacle. This may include you having to back up several times so that the rear tires align in the way they want you to proceed with. Follow their directions, it may seem strange to you at the time, but they can see things that you cannot.
3) Once spotting begins, PAY ATTENTION. So many times I see this; We get someone lined up, only to have them stop paying attention, stick their head out the window, and do their own thing. As hard as it may be, don’t take your eyes off the spotter. They are there to help you!
4) Stick with the spotter till you are through the obstacle. Their job is to guide you over that obstacle and help you navigate through it. I see this all the time, a jeep gets partway through and the driver thinks they are clear and stops watching the spotter, and guess what – usually their rear tires slip off the rock because they turned too early and they are now balancing on their drive shaft or something else. And then it’s just fun for the spotter to try to figure out how to get them back on track. Or worse, pulling a winch line or getting a strap.
5) There should only be one spotter! You may experience multiple people trying to help you through an obstacle at the same time. We all LOVE to help… however, you need to listen or watch one spotter at a time. It’s OK for you to ask for just one person to help. I have seen experienced drivers getting through a tough spot and everyone is “helping” by giving commands and the driver finally says, “I need one spotter”. There is nothing wrong with asking for just one person to guide you. And for those of you helping to spot a newbie make sure you are the only one giving the direction.
In spotting, there are some commands that you should be aware of. Some spotters use verbal commands and others use non-verbal commands. Both have pros and cons, I tend to prefer the non-verbal which I will explain in next week’s episode.
Let’s start with verbal commands. These are probably the most commonly used. You can look up any YouTube video and find all kinds of verbal commands given at almost any obstacle in the country. It seems that most people are good at speaking their directions and most of the time, drivers listen. But sometimes the verbal commands can get “lost in translation” especially if a newbie isn’t familiar with what the spotter actually wants them to do. The tone of their voice and patience are important here for the newbie. Verbal commands can be misinterpreted, not heard, and/or confusing. Verbal commands can also lend themselves to allow the driver to look away from the spotter while they “wait” for the next verbal command.
I have a few examples of verbal commands most often used;
Driver, or turn driver: turn your wheels toward the driver’s side.
Passenger, or turn passenger: turn your wheels toward the passenger side.
Easy: easy on the throttle or brake
Control your rear: when coming off an obstacle, slow down and ease the back end off the rocks so you don’t bounce your bumper off the rocks.
STOP: Very important for you to STOP & FREEZE if you hear this command. You may have no idea what is about to happen if you don’t STOP.
The issue I have with verbal commands is that for you, the Newbie, and frankly any driver, may not understand exactly how much “driver” to turn. Or exactly what does “easy” mean? Once you wheel for a bit and have several obstacles under your belt, you will get a feel for what these verbal commands mean. But as a spotter, being able to communicate to the driver exactly what I need them to do is important to the newbie’s success. So for all of you listeners that help spot, think about your verbal commands and try to limit the words and comments so that the Newbie driver can get the most out of the experience. This is especially true if husbands are helping their wives/significant others through. Sometimes “Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus” shows up and all kinds of “verbal” communication starts to happen. I know, I’ve been at major obstacles and watched the frustration of a driver when the spotter loses patience and starts over correcting or yelling the commands. That is clearly not the way to help a newbie through. Patience is key.
You can also review past episodes #638, 428, 433 & 466 if you can’t wait for the episode.
https://www.youtube.com/user/backcountrydriver
Must-Have Stuff for Your Jeep!
REXING V1 – 4K Ultra HD Car Dash Cam 2.4″ LCD Screen, Wi-Fi, 170° Wide Angle Dashboard Camera Recorder with G-Sensor, WDR, Loop Recording, Supercapacitor, Mobile App, 256GB Supported $94.99
This is the dashcam I have in the 2021 Jeep Talk Show Gladiator and the video you will see on the soon-to-be-published EJS 2024 video on the YouTube Jeep Talk Show channel.
This Jeep Talk Show flagship episode is brought to you by realtruck.com with over 1 million plus parts and accessories for your Jeep truck and life. Yes, I said life. Stay tuned for more on Real Truck’s latest off-road adventure, running the Rubicon, available on Motor Trend Plus.
Well, howdy, it’s Wendy. And on this episode, I’m going to share my favorite topic on wheeling, spotting. First up, how to actually use the spotter.
Hi, I’m Larry, and I’ve been seeing some pretty cool photos from EJS. Yes. You’re going to see a lot more because I really haven’t even started on all the videos and everything that I took. I know. You’re going to start. Oh my God. You know, I spent two hours, I think it was on Monday. We got back on Sunday, and I think I spent literally two hours transferring all the footage from the GoPros, and I didn’t really shoot that much stuff. For the GoPros, the audio mics. It all adds up though. Oh my goodness. Amazing how much data you can collect over a week’s time. Yeah, and I still feel bad because I didn’t get as much as what I wanted, but I get the feeling that’s always the case. I think that’s why you see the Japanese tourists with 47 cameras around their neck whenever they’re traveling places. You got all that footage, except for that one you’re looking for, you can never find. Exactly. Oh, I hate that. I know I already, I know I have one messed up interview with Greg Henderson, and I don’t understand it because the one mic wasn’t working and one GoPro wasn’t working. Luckily it wasn’t Greg’s, it was mine. So I think I’ll be able to get clips out of it. Yeah. Well, there’s a lot of checking you got to do. It’s kind of like shooting, doing this podcast. I mean, especially since we do audio only and then audio and video, there’s a lot of things for me to check and you just have to go through those steps and check it every time for success. But anyway, speaking of success, we received the following email today on the date that we’re recording this. Did you guys know it’s four by four day? Yes, it is. Yeah. Chris from Jeep Talk Show, Chris, as I tell my wife, he called me up and was chatting with me and he said he was going to go over to some sort of rubber duck thing today on a, it’s a celebration for four by four day. And I went, I don’t know. What is that? He goes, April 4th. I went, Oh, I said, I know Cinco de Mayo. He goes, Cinco de Mayo. I said, yeah, when you put the five canisters of mayonnaise in the sink for Cinco de Mayo, he did not just do that. Pi Day. It’s a, it’s a meme. Pi Day and made the force. The force be with you. Exactly. Made it force. Yeah. Yeah. You got that one and then the next day you get Cinco de Mayo. And it’s so funny. I told my wife, it wasn’t, my wife is originally from Mexico and does speak Spanish. And it wasn’t until we had been married 20 years or something that I finally figured out what Cinco de Mayo was made the fifth. Oh, okay.
Wow. It does sound so much cooler in Spanish. All right. Here’s the, here’s the, the, the email that we received today on March 22nd. My wife and I and our gladiator followed by my parents and their gladiator decided to take the easy way back.
That’s always trouble. There is never that word in off-roading, by the way, folks. Murphy’s law is going to penalize you. The easy way back to crown King in Arizona. Everything was going great until we came to a fork in the road about three quarters of the way up. Sounds like a horror movie coming up.
We should have gone left, but after talking to some side by side drivers, that came out that’s the problem right there. It came out of the right fork. We decided to go right. This put us on a connector road that unknowingly put us over to the harder way back to crown King after linking up with, uh, yeah, linking up with the harder way. We ran into a group of Jeeps. This is where it gets, uh, it gets kind of sketchy, uh, that we had passed clear back at the beginning of the route. They were airing up a flat tire and we decided to join them, not knowing what was ahead of us. Oh dear. There’s the other problem. Those in the squilling pigs should have been a, uh, should have been a clue. You need to cue the music. Tony after a couple of harder sections, we came upon, uh, the red truck section in the trail. I don’t know what that is. This is Tony’s favorite truck. Yeah. Uh, after one of the group made it over the section, the rest of us ended up being winched over after not being able to make it up the obstacle. Long story short, Travis, uh, we all made it up to crown King. Thanks to this group that we found, I don’t remember their names very well, but it was a group of people from your talk show that were on their way to Moab and decided to do this trail. You know what? That’s also important to always be nice to people because you never know how they’re connected and you’ll be on the air somewhere. That also means you got to ask them what is the red Jeep section? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. We’ll be able to find that out tonight on the discord right after the show. So there were four Jeeps total and I would just like to let everyone know that, uh, what great people they are, uh, to help some off-road beginners such as we were once again, thanks to this group who said they belong to Jeep talk show.com and gave us some decals to remember the event by. And this is from Dana. Uh, there was a, and, and, and actually Steve O was part of that group. I know you’re, uh, she was really shocked and surprised, but Steve O was part of that group and, uh, he said that the, the second gladiator was driven by Dana’s 85 year old dad. Wow. That’s cool. That’s very cool. So Dana, here are the names of the folks that helped you out. They are Rick, which I believe is the gentleman that, uh, that winched you up. He has a black TJ, uh, which he drove. He’s done a lot of building to right before, uh, EJS or right before this Arizona trip and then drove it from little rock, Arkansas to Arizona, then to Moab and then back home. No trailer. He drove it. Right. So it was Rick, Steve, we prior previously mentioned Steve O, uh, Dan, Carrie, Dwayne and Garrett. So they were happy to help and we’re proud to have them as part of the Jeep talk show family. Absolutely. Way to go guys. It’s so important. Yep. Yep. So, uh, I just, I just really appreciate them being there and I really appreciate Dana taking the time to look us up and send us that email and hopefully they’ll hear this on the show. Hopefully we got some new listeners. That’s good stuff.
All right. It’s back. So you guys can see, uh, Wendy, you and you and Larry can see the picture. It’s not that bad. You guys can see this, uh, at the Jeep talk show.com. Just look for the show notes for episode, uh, one thousand, 14. I’m still getting, I’m still getting hard time saying four digit numbers, you know, so weird. So 14. And you know what? I started back. It was like four 25 was my first episode. Was it? Yeah. That’s a lot. Yeah. That’s a lot. Um, so it’s back. What’s, what’s it’s it’s, it’s Tuscadero pink. Ruby Jeep returns to 2024 Jeep Wrangler, which, which really, it’s not really pink people just cause it says pink. It’s kind of that Larry, how’d you describe it? It’s like a mauvey kind of, there’s a little purple to it, but not really. And it’s not really pink, but no, it’s Barbie pink. It’s not that Barbie pink. Barbie pink is a little light, a light pink. No, no, it’s more like a mauvey color. It’s I’ve seen it in person. It’s beautiful.
I mean, if you like that kind of color, I just need to clarify that as a manly man, I wouldn’t, uh, I wouldn’t want this color as my primary Jeep, but if it was my wife’s Jeep, sure. Cause I would just say, people would say, Oh, that’s a pretty color Jeep. Did you pick it out yourself? I’d say no, my wife did as a woman married to a manly man. We are not owning this color. There you go. I have to check with my wife and my girls to see what they think about this color. I like it because it’s bright and there’s, there is red in the color. Yes, but I think all Jeeps should be a very bright color, but absolutely. That’s why white is so great. I like the yellow. I don’t know if I would go this route. Yeah. The yellow. I saw some, uh, what is it? Not me. What’s the hydro blue is beautiful. Hydro blue is good, but there’s a, uh, what is a high visibility yellow or something that I saw. I’ve seen one of those out there. That’d be nice. Yeah. It was hydro blue. I’d have to seriously have to think about it. And there’s a really bright like lime green one. I saw, um, coming, uh, coming back from EJS. Um, he got, he, I think he was on 39s or 40s. It was just, uh, I mean, it looked cool, but it just seemed impractical for off-roading and it may not, may not have been off-road rig. Anyway, anyway, the Tuscadero pink debuted on the Wrangler back in 2021. Demand for it was so strong that Jeep was compelled to extend production into the 22, 2022 model year just to fill the existing orders. I know people love it. Uh, and it disappeared from Mopar’s color vault after that production run was complete, but Jeep’s marketing, uh, people know a hit when they see you on, oh, dah, that’s, that’s an easy one. Uh, just the number of orders. Knowledge. Yeah. So sure enough, Tuscadero pink is back for the refreshed 2024 Wrangler. So get this 30,000 Tuscadero pink Jeeps were ordered in 2021.
30,000. This isn’t, this isn’t just, you know, oh yeah, that kind of looks good. And does everybody here know what the Tuscadero comes from?
The word Tuscadero. You said it before. I can’t remember. I wasn’t paying attention. I guess my mind goes happy days. It is happy days. I mean, I will say unofficial cause I could be wrong about this, but when I think of Tuscadero pink, I think of, uh, Oh, I’m forgetting the character’s name, but her, her last name pinky. Yes, exactly. Pinky Tuscadero from happy days. It was a kind of a biker chick that Fonzie was, uh, um, madly in love with or as madly in love with, uh, that Fonzie would get. And, uh, yeah, she was, uh, an add-on character that was there for, I don’t remember if she was there to the very end or not. Uh, but, uh, yeah, I think this is exactly that. And I wonder if they had to do anything for this name. You guys get to figure this, that somebody had to pay something to be able to use the Tuscadero.
I mean, are they pairing, are they paying for the Cherokee name? Yeah, probably not.
Yeah.
So the, um, so I always say this and you guys are sick of hearing it too bad. All Jeeps want to be red. And at the very least Jeep should be bright colors. And this certainly, uh, goes under the, the bright colors thing. So I say when you have superpowers, you need to be wearing super colors. So red would be the first choice. I mean, let’s say Superman. I mean, nobody notices him when he’s a Clark Kent, but as soon as he puts on those, uh, those blue, bright blue, red and yellow, uh, outfits, everybody, everybody sees him and that’s the way Jeep should be. And he’s wearing blue. So blue is a good color too. It’s a bright blue.
Where you go with the most famous, you know, uh, bright dark color, which is black.
Poor Larry. You’re not going to win this one today, Larry. So, but you know, and I have to, I have no problem with the color black on vehicles. Actually the TJ I was looking at way back in 97, 98, uh, that we were thinking about buying was black. Uh, the only downside to that I could think is, uh, inclement weather like rain and fog and, and I would think white is the same issue because well, white will blend in, uh, with a fog and light and heavy rain, especially in snow. So do you guys not, not concerned about any kind of safety issues about just being seen, uh, in bad weather? Well, the black, you know, the tires are black and there’s black, you know, things around the white. So I’m not white it out. I’ve got a black top, you know, that kind of stuff. So lights are on. Well, but yeah, lights are on. Nobody’s home, but the lights are on. Well, sometimes, sometimes I see gray cars, you know, not those are hard to see the gray lights off, driving through the rain, heavy rain. It’s like, that’s a stuff vehicle. Now for us, and I would think for you too, Tony being super hot in the summer times, black has always been a car that we’ve stayed away from. Any car that I’ve ever had has never been black because it just increases the interior temperature when you get in there. Absolutely. And, and the, the, the white vehicles absolutely are going to be cooler cause it’s going to be reflecting a lot of that heat. So that’s good. Except whenever you get four foot of snow and you might freeze to death. I can’t find my, get my Jeep.
Press the button, make the lights flash. We color code our dog to the Jeep. Yeah, that’s right.
He just thought you loved him because of who he was.
Because of my color. What’s going on here? So the Tuscararo, uh, pink joins anvil, Earl, Earl,
I’m thinking that’s what I’m thinking. That’s what it is. The question is between anvil and Earl, are those both grays? I’m assuming. Oh God.
So the Earl is more of a bluish gray. Oh, and then I’m, I’m scared that you know this. I would expect these other names for colors. So anvil is a, I believe John Lee’s Jeep. Okay. Which is what black and Earl is the, I believe the color that chips wife’s Jeep is we had discussion about that. Well, that’s joined with firecracker red granite granite crystal. I thought so. Here’s another gray. Yeah. Another gray, uh, silver zenith. Zenith. Yeah. I think, uh, hydro blue. I think we all know the hydro blue, uh, bright white, boring black, boring
bikini teal in the 20, 2024 Wrangler color palette. So, uh, and I’ll mention this idea. I have not checked this because I haven’t been, uh, looking at buying a new gladiator or anything, but I do remember when the 2021s came out, there were a lot fewer colors for the gladiators, uh, than there were for the Wranglers. So I suspect not all of these are available for the gladiators. Let’s say change something.
So you can order the 2024 Wrangler and Tuscartero starting, uh, today, which is a four by four day. And they made this announcement on four by four day. It’ll cost you $895 on the sport sport. S Willy’s Sahara Rubicon, Rubicon X and Rubicon three 92. And that would be a cool thing to do because this is the final year for the Rubicon three 92. So I’d recommend you get a Rubicon three 92 and Tuscartero pink. You’re going to have a, what do they call it? A unicorn. They’d be a collector. Yeah. Yeah.
So for now you’re limited to a black hardtop, uh, body colored hardtops or, uh, black soft top, uh, the sky one touch power top in Tuscartero will be available by summer. So the one touch power top will also be available in, in, in, in Tuscartero pink. That’s that surprises me. Cause that’s a soft top, right? Now, I wonder if the actual top section or if it’s the side panels, it’s going to be Tuscartero. Oh, that’s a good, that’s a good point. Yeah. Cause you really don’t see the top from the, from the sides and then you lift it. You certainly don’t. Right.
All right. On tonight’s episode, we’re going to be talking about our first car and our first Jeep. So, uh, Larry, Wendy, start thinking up your, uh, your, uh, exit strategy now. Wow. Cause I’m going to call it on you. Got it. And newbie nuggets. Uh, Wendy’s going to be talking about the shares, what you need to know when you’re using a spotter. So when he’s going to share what you need to know and fabricating frenzy with Larry, let’s hear about EJS vendors and in our must have stuff for your Jeep dash cam. Yeah. I know we’ve talked about it before, but this is going to have, this is going to have a bit of an EJS, a spin on it. Okay.
Are you ready? It’s time for the Jeep dog show with host Tony, Josh, Wendy, and Chuck.
All right. So my very first car, uh, was a Pontiac Ventura, a 1973 Pontiac Ventura. Yes. I’m old. Uh, that was not a new car. Uh, it was several years old when I got it. It was something my parents got me, uh, with the agreement that I would pay for half of it. Uh, I still owe them that money. Uh, and, uh, it was, it was a great car. It had a three speed manual on the floor. Uh, within, and this was the cool part with a Hearst T handle shifter. So this is a very low end car that somebody had spun a Hearst shifter on onto it.
It had a straight six cylinder, uh, that would do 105 miles per hour. Eventually on a highway, a nice straight level surface. Uh, asked me how I know. And, uh, it had no AC, no power steering, no power brakes, uh, manual windows, and an AM radio. And for a 16 year old first vehicle, it was glorious. It wasn’t, that was the Pontiac Nova, right? Uh, exactly. It’s the exact same, uh, body as a, as a Nova. So basically what I had was a 73 Nova with a different grill and a different, uh, what do you call the thing on the back where the tail lights are? The, the, uh, the back end of the vehicle. I know the grill is the front, but I don’t know what the back back is called. Uh, but I eventually put some American racing, uh, mag wheels, uh, L sixties, which they don’t do L sixties anymore. They’re just big fat tires that go on the back. Oh, you can put them on the front, I guess, but nobody did. Uh, and that was my first time to use shackles because it was leaf spring, uh, leaf sprung in the rear of the, uh, the, the Ventura and, uh, to get it up high enough to stuff those L sixties underneath there, I had to lift up the back end, that was my first lifted vehicle. And, uh, yeah, so, uh, it, I may have even put some, something in the coal, the coal springs up front to kind of bring the nose up a little bit. I can’t remember if that was that one or the first truck that I had, but anyway, uh, we’ll had the yellow traction bars and it was a room, room. It was a bad-ass straight six.
So, uh, it was a sleeper that never woke up. But what I guess it kind of did when I dropped the three 27 in it, uh, then it w woke up real good. Uh, especially, yeah, especially back then. Uh, that was a, that was a fun thing to do. I built that engine. That was my first engine to build. And I was so proud of that. I had help from, uh, my neighbor and my neighbor’s dad. He actually set the, uh, the lash that right, the lash on the, the, uh, the rockers, yeah. Uh, and I was so upset because we had to pull the, the valve covers off and all that cleaning and painting I did under the, and, uh, under the hood, it got oil all over it while we were running.
It’s easy to clean, but still just watching it. It’s like, Oh no. Yeah.
So from the, from the Ventura, I moved into a couple of more cars and then, uh, I don’t know if I’ve told you this guy, I told you guys this before. I love speed. Uh, and it doesn’t have to be going straight either. Uh, the attorney stuff, uh, sliding around, doing all that crap. It doesn’t scare me. I just have a lot of fun doing it. And I decided, uh, that by the age of 18, I needed to get something that was, uh, not as fast. You can do crazy things in anything, but I decided to get into trucks. Uh, and I, I felt that that would probably keep me, uh, well, not so much me alive, but everybody else, cause at 18, you’re never going to die. And, uh, there was, there’s been some crazy things that I did in the car, uh, including with a girl that just freaked out. She was, uh, in a huddled mass and a fetal position after we, uh, after I tried passing a vehicle and there was oncoming, uh, vehicle coming and I had to go to a parking lot, uh, instead of crashing into the oncoming vehicle.
And the parking lot was used to get to the parking lot. And the parking lot was full of gravel. It was a gravel parking lot. Oh my goodness. And I did not, and I did not slow down. Probably scared the bejeezys out of her. Oh, I really did. The fourth thing you see it again. Oh, well, she went out with me again. So I don’t know. Uh, but it was, it was fun. Oh, and there was at one time when I was late for school, high school, and my neighbor, uh, was riding with me and, uh, there was a railroad track right before the high school and the train was crossed. I was late in the train was crossing and it’s a long train. And, uh, I ran down to the next, uh, unofficial crossover and slid the Ventura sideways at, you know, going as fast as I could go, slid it, literally slid it sideways like they do on TV and then dropped it down to probably first or second gear and punch that thing over the railroad track, uh, just as the train was going by and, and my neighbor is a daredevil. He was scared shitless. That’s like Dukes of Hazzard kind of. It was. And then this would have been in a 76, I think 76, 77. Oh, Brown. And it was, it was so funny because didn’t bother me a bit other than, yeah, that was close, but I, it’s always easy in the, in the driver’s seat. It’s a lot as you’re in the passenger. You’re like, what the hell I’m going to die. Yeah.
So anyway, I can regale you on these, these type of things, but suffice it to say me getting into trucks and then Jeeps was a good thing. Yeah. Load you down. So what, so what was your first Jeep? First Jeep was the, the, the Cherokee that I have now, uh, bought it in a 98. Uh, and, uh, we were looking at a TJ or I was looking at a TJ. And when I took the wife to the dealership to have a look at that TJ, uh, we were waiting for them to get it or take us over there, we saw the red, uh, Cherokee classic, uh, with a, uh, the up country package on it, which is a one inch lift from the factory and a block heater and a few other things. And, uh, yeah, it was bright red. And my wife said, what about this one? I said, well, it is, it is a nice bright red. We both love red and it was a four door and I figured we could just get the TJ later. So we test drove it and bought it. And that’s the same one I have in the garage today.
So, uh, yeah. And then, uh, of course you guys know about the gladiator. I mean, I think that’s, I think that might be a hard thing for a lot of people to understand having one vehicle that you drive back and forth to work for so many years and, uh, like, like I did with the, uh, with the Cherokee, but, uh, it’s been a great vehicle. I’ve done a lot of work to it. Uh, it’s easy to work on and, uh, yeah. So I got a few things I need to do to it before I get it back out on the road. Uh, now, but, uh, the, the, the gladiator has been, uh, has been wonderful and even going to EJS driving up there, uh, 20 hours up and back as, uh, was great. So that’s one thing that was not really a thing to do with the, uh, with the Cherokee. Maybe when it was brand new, but not later when I had so much stuff added to it. All right, Wendy, this is the part where I was talking about getting your edg- exit strategy. What was your first car and then what first Jeep and maybe why? My first car was a 1980 Subaru had a hatchback. Um, it was a great car. I mean, what a great car to start. Didn’t even realize how capable that vehicle was when I think back at it. Um, and then, you know, other cars in between as you grow up, I was 16 when I got that car, so that’s pretty cool. Uh, bought it brand new, saved my money, worked hard, you know, that kind of thing. Um, and I also had a two door prelude when those came out. Oh, those were nice. Yeah, those were really nice. I had some fun in that car. Yeah. I yeah, did some highway freeway speeds that you’re not supposed to, but it was fun. I think everybody does. I think we do. We have to see what the cars are doing. You got to test it out. So it was kind of fun.
Um, and then of course, when I met Bill, he had the lifted Chevy, uh, Duramax diesel, love that. Oh my gosh. Do I love that truck? Um, so, you know, I’ve had all kinds of different vehicles. My job, I had a Honda van, a minivan, because I could put all my samples and supplies and travel and do all kinds of stuff. It was an excellent vehicle for that. Was it Tupperware? That what you were, you saw on Tupperware? No, it’s my gift industry stuff. No, I wasn’t doing that. But anyway, so that was, you know, my first car was a Subaru. I, I love the brand. I think it’s a good car for what it’s doing. And today it’s even great. You know, we’ve worked with people that have Subarus on off-road and teaching them how to drive and super capable vehicle. It’s not going to do what our jeeps do on the big stuff, but it’s really capable. So, and then our first Jeep is the same Jeep. I still have a 2008 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon JKU. So I love it. It’s white. It’s not that bright white that’s out today. It’s the pretty white, I call it.
And it’s just great because you do all your upgrades and all that kind of stuff. So I can’t imagine myself doing anything new, newer, because you just, you’d love when you put all that time and effort into your own Jeep.
But I would imagine at some point that’s going to be something older and we’re going to have to make a decision. So who knows? We’ll see. Maybe it will be a dedicated trail rig. Uh, and, uh, That has definitely crossed my mind to either make this one dedicated and then have a drive around that you, you know, not worried about, I wouldn’t mind doing something like that or vice versa. So pretty cool. How about you, Larry? What was your first car? If you started off with a car and what was your first Jeep? I think the one you have now is your first Jeep, but, uh, but don’t let me rush you. No, it is. So my first car is kind of, uh, almost on how to answer that because I was building a rail buggy when I bought my first car. And when I turned 16, I got to drive them both.
So I had, I had built a rail buggy and it was street legal.
And my first day with the driver’s license, I drove it up to get it plates and title and all that at the same time. I had a, I had bought a 70 Monte Carlo and it had a 350 and it had all the stuff on it, you know, I had all the bells and whistles. It was, it was a really nice, really nice car.
So that was my, that was my first cars, if you will.
As I recall, the Monte Carlos were really cool vehicles, but I don’t think, uh, I don’t think I remember what the seventies one looks like. I’m actually looking it up. Yeah. So if you know what a 70 Chevelle looks like, they rode on the same chassis on the interior, they were very similar. The body was a little different, but.
Yeah. So mine had a 350 with an automatic and an air and all this stuff inside of it. And my dad had actually did the body work and painted it for me.
And, uh, it was really nice car. And so, you know, sort of, sort of rusting. You couldn’t buy repair panels back then when I sold it. And that’s the one, one I always regretted selling.
Yeah. I wouldn’t mind having my either. Well, I think I liked the 72 Nova that I had right after the 73 Ventura. I totaled the 73 Ventura if anybody’s wondering and, uh, got the 1972 Nova from down the street and moved all the stuff off of the, the totaled Ventura onto the Nova and I think I liked the Nova body styling a little better. Of course it was much better. Well known than the Ventura. Sure.
Yeah. And then my first Jeep is the 18 that I have today. It’s, uh, you know, we, we bought it to get out and try to explore a little bit with my girls before they, uh, got too old and moved out, which is only a couple of years after and, uh, still have it today. And why did you get a Jeep? I mean, Wendy, I would have asked you this, but you had no choice.
No, I, I had a choice, but not really. Yeah. Oh, okay. I was thinking Bill had had a Jeep before you guys got together, but yeah, I guess. Yeah. And he had been off road and it was something he wanted to do again. Right. I don’t, I don’t think we thought we would be this far into it though. Like that wasn’t discussed teaching and training and going off roading and understanding what rock crawling and, you know, Oh, it’ll swallow you up. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of really, yeah. For us, it was more just, just getting out. And, uh, I wanted to get out with the girls or for they get, got old enough to move on and do look exploring and stuff like that. You’d always seen this stuff about, you know, the Colorado mountains and Utah and all that, but have never been. And you have us, you can’t do some of that in a normal car. So that was, that was the next, the next step of that whole thing. How did they, how did they take to that? Was that something that they liked or was it a reason for them moving out?
Oh, well, they enjoyed the scenery. Of course, they didn’t like the bumpy ride, you know, of being out on a trail, but, you know, I think they enjoyed the exploring part of it and they both talk, but I was wanting to get back to Colorado. They’ve not been back since we were all there several years ago, but, uh, I think they enjoyed it and, you know, I, I see them kind of going back and reliving some of that when they get a little bit older and you could buy a few things. Right. Yeah. And you never know. And of course, I think that that’s what the parent does anyway, is you, you get your kids to experience things that they may or may not like, but that, right. It’s not as important as having them experience it. Uh, cause you, if they, there’s going to be something that they, they take away from that and you never know what it’s going to, what changes it’s going to make to their, their lives, uh, in the future. They, they may get to be, uh, have children and, uh, get to the point where they say, you know what, I remember dad taking us out in that Jeep and I should do that for my kids. It’s memories, you know, it’s what you’re doing. You’re creating that. And whether they do it ever or they do it sometime later in their life, they’re always going to have that memory. And you, and you know, that meme, you always see it is so true that your kids will never remember what the gas mileage was, but the, remember, you know, the size tires and the stuff, the fun you had the vacation and what you did. Exactly.
All right. So if you want to get more out of your weekend, you got to get more out of your truck storage for your tools, cover from the elements and protection that stands up under pressure, whether it’s a little DIY or your next big project. We say, bring it to the backyard, to the barnyard and everything. You can throw at it and everything that stands in its way, because it’s not about getting the job done. It’s about getting the job done. Right. Real truck, bring your truck to life. Oh, and if you take a few seconds to go to, uh, get the, to go to this webpage, give us a take on this page, realtruck.com slash blog slash real truck presents running the Rubicon, a full episode in case you don’t have a motor trend plus.
Good Lord.
What?
Where’s the new new new new enemy? Newbie nugget. It’s time for newbie nuggets.
Well, one of my favorite topics and teaching and actually working with people is teaching people how to spot and also how to use the spotter. So I’m going to break it into a couple of different segments. So follow along and keep listening to the deep talk show so you can get all this good information, but some things about the spotter is that when you’re driving brand new and you’re a newbie, um, I think it can be a little nerve wracking when you’re doing that driver’s seat, especially if you’re coming across an obstacle and we’re talking, it could be just a rut. It could be a big boulder. It could be, you know, a hole in the ground, whatever. Um, kind of using the spotter is a good idea. So if you’re new to driving, don’t be afraid to use one. Um, hopefully they’re good. Uh, there’s all kinds of levels of spotters out there. You can go on YouTube and figure that out pretty quick for yourself. They’re not all created equal. Um, so I was fortunate enough to have my husband, Bill, uh, teach me along with, you know, hanging out with Don Alexander. And of course, all these other people that I’ve been able to wheel with, you really learn and pick up things by getting out and watching. So just make sure that you feel comfortable using that spotter. Um, but what do you do and what is it mean when you’re using an actual spotter? So a spotter is essentially your extra set of eyes to guide you over that obstacle, um, that you’re not going to be able to see once you start your movement toward that. So if you’re going over some rocks, you might be able to line yourself up clearly, but you then lose that visual ability because the size of the Jeep, um, the rocks are now underneath the tire. So it’s important that you feel confident with that spotter. Um, they should be able to give you some clear commands and maybe even have a discussion with you prior to starting to figure out what your level of expertise or experiences. So don’t be afraid as a newbie to say, Hey, I’m brand new. Um, what do you want me to do? How am I going to listen to you? That kind of stuff. You as the driver have the ultimate decision of using a spotter or not. Um, I’ve been on trails where someone says, I don’t want to use you. Fine. I have no, nothing, you know, I’m not trying to prove anything. So I’m okay with you saying no. Um, but if you say yes, then you need to use me all the way through. And the reason for that is that I’m going to be able to look at your tires and to know exactly what they’re doing that you may not know. A lot of times drivers we’ve talked about sitting in that front seat. Once you’re done driving and you get over those front tires, you forget about the rears. So one of the things that a good spotter can do is really look at the rear tires and where, how they’re tracking. So that spotter’s job is to help you line up for that obstacle. And you might have to back up a couple of times, you know, but what they’re doing is I’m usually trying to get those tires aligned so that as you start to come up and over that rock or that formation or that rut, you’re not deviating from it. It’s very, very easy as a new driver or an, or a newbie is a sense that once you’re over something, you’re quickly to go, Hey, I’m done. And then turn and do something that completely changes the introduction of those rear tires. So the spotter’s job is really to make sure that you can get through the whole entire obstacle, whatever that is. So as a driver and you’re using a spotter, please follow those directions. Um, and it may seem strange to you. Um, I’ve had people say, I wanted to turn a while back, but you’ve made me go further forward is like, yes, cause I’m looking at those rears and what they’re doing. So again, I’m going to say it. Once you agree to use the spotter, you need to pay attention. Um, a lot of times people will start and then they’re going to, you know, they’re looking at you and then they’re now they’re looking down at the ground or they want to look out the window to see what’s going on. So paying attention to that spotter again, don’t take your eyes off of them because they can see things before you’ll ever even feel them or know what’s going on. So stick with them through the tend. That’s their job to get you through. Um, and the other thing I’m going to say to you too, when you’re new, you’re going to be listening to all kinds of people. Maybe it’s your passenger. Maybe it’s your friends. Maybe it’s your husband. Who knows what the peanut gallery on the large rock to the left. 100%. Right. And we all, all of us sitting here on this particular podcast, we all love to get out and watch. We love to help. Um, that’s part of what wheeling is all about. You really need to only have one spotter. I’ve been on trails where there’s three people bark in orders. You know what? That’s not fair. That’s not fair to your driver and the driver’s confused. Well, who do I listen to? My husband says this, but this person in front of me, says they’re my spotter, but they’re saying something else. You as the driver gets to decide who gets to be your spotter. I love that I wheel with Bill and so he can be my spotter, but I’ve also used other people. Tony, do you have a question? Yeah, I was going to ask you, uh, I agree with you as far as if you’ve, if you are listening to a spotter, uh, do them like you would any, any bot. Use them the full, the full term so that you get the full effect. But, but we, uh, this isn’t directed at you because I trust you. Uh, but if the person that’s being a spotter and you think they may be insane or they’re just giving you bad advice, how would you let them know that you’re no longer going to be paying attention to them? Well, first off, if you’re new, I encourage you to get out of the Jeep and watch how that spotter got other people through. That’s a good idea. Yeah. If you’re watching, so when you’re new in any kind of a trail run, don’t be the second Jeep in line. Get in the middle for the back because you’re going to have time to get out and go look at different obstacles. And again, it depends on what you’re doing. This could just be an easy trail road and there’s just a rut that washed through. We have that happen all the time. Or you could be really new and just scared that you’re going to break something and not know what to expect. Yeah. And if you stop trusting that, that spotter, that’s going to be, that could be bad problem. That could be a problem to get it, but getting out and watching is probably the first clue. If the spotter is yelling, screaming, having to say the command 15 times,
there’s a problem because that’s not how it should happen.
But you’re new. So you’re thinking, I have to lose this person. No, you don’t. If you have somebody in the vehicle with you or you’re with somebody else who’s driven, say, Hey, can you spot me through? If you know that you’re going to use your friend or your husband or your, you know, co-driver, then you can say to the spotter, I’m going to use whoever. But can you wave them off in the middle of it? Like you, you’ve just lost confidence in that spotter because you know, it’s, it’s, you could be wrong, but, but as pilot in command, it’s your responsibility to pick, even though, even if it’s wrong, it’s, it’s your responsibility to, to drive that vehicle the best way you feel comfortable in. Correct. And it’s also your vehicle, your expenses, your whatever. If you decide to use the spotter, cause you don’t know any different and you’re in a club run or whatever you’re on the run and you get in the middle of it and something doesn’t feel right, you have the ability to say, I’m sorry. Can I get so-and-so to help me instead? Good. Who cares? You know, but I think what happens is for newbies, we get locked into this. I have to use this person. We did that on our very first trail run. When we first got the Jeep, Bill has a ton of experience. We go out on a run. This guy’s looking at a four door. He’s, he drives a two door. That was the other thing looking, you know, kind of follow what size Jeep you have. He moves us off the line. Everybody else was taking thinking he can get us up over here instead. He can’t after the third try, Bill says, I’m going to go back the other way. And the guy goes, whatever you want to do. Well, Bill walked up there. Yeah, exactly. And so we learned early on, you know what you, we have the ultimate. You’re not going to sit here and keep trying to force us up a spot that isn’t going to work cause you’re not doing your job. So again, sometimes that spotter might be learning themselves. That’s how they’re going to learn. Um, but you as the driver, whether you’re new or experienced, you have the ultimate say, now I will say being an experienced spotter. I have a lot of people that I have spotted some very professional drivers, people that are very experienced on down to brand newbies. And if someone says to me, I want to try it my own, I step aside. I am there to help them get free when they get stuck because sometimes they don’t pick the line, right? Well, that’s fine. They’re entitled or they want to pick a different line. I’m okay on that too. So as a driver, you can say to the spotter, I want to do this line, or I want to do your line that you’re saying, or I want to do something different, or I want to use somebody different. But I’m just saying if you truly use and you decide to use the spotter, then use them all the way through. Cause that’s super important.
I’m sorry. Go ahead, Larry. The big question I got, Wendy is we all, we all know there’s couples that wheel together and at least once, at least once. And you know, we all think we know, but we always interact with our spouse differently. Oh yeah. So what have you found there? You know, we’re, cause you know, I, you know, I’m a guy, you know, we all, we all know, and, uh, how was the, how was that dynamic work we had on the trail? So if, if the guy’s driving, generally he’s depends on his ego and his level experience, I should say too. Um, sometimes that’s where I’ll see that he doesn’t want to use me as a woman. Now, when I get to us, uh, an obstacle that we’re on another run and there’s another group with us, and I usually see that the most where the husband and wife and boy, you know, she’s driving through maybe her first time. He’s think he’s teaching her correctly. It doesn’t work. I mean, he’s yelling at her. She’s getting frustrated. She’s too, too hard on the throttle, not enough on the throttle. It doesn’t matter. There’s all this fight going on. Um, I want to step in and say, dude, can I help you? But I don’t. Um, but if they’re in our group, I’m going to say, Hey, if you’d like, and I’ll say to her, you know, I see that you’re driving for the first time. I’m super excited about that. Um, when you get to an obstacle, I don’t know how you and your husband work together, I’m not going to say yes, it’s good or bad, but if you need some additional help, you have permission to pick your spotter. I’m happy to help you. And that’s a nice way for me to say to her in a comfortable spot. She doesn’t want to use me. I don’t care. But if that husband is abusing her and it’s really bad, I will step in if they’re in our group and just say, Hey, do you mind if I could help you out? Looks like there’s, you know, issues. He’s either going to let me or he’s not. And if he’s not, then I have to walk away. So I’ll just remind you, uh, for police calls, domestic disturbances are the most dangerous. Yeah.
Yeah. We’ve all seen that dynamic on the trail. Yes. And, and it’s hard. It’s hard when I let go, if you’re, you’re the spouse and they want, you’re trying to spot them through, yeah. There’s all, there’s all that history. It may have nothing to do what’s going on on the railing. It’s, it’s just the last straw. To me that when I first started and I was a pretty good spotter and I got, I’ve gotten better, um, the men and even in our clubs that now I don’t believe it, you know, and so they want to do their own thing. That’s fine. But then when they got to watch and now what’s happened is some of those men have said to their wives, by the way, use her instead. So it’s partly my, my approach to, I don’t have an ego in the game. I’m just trying to help people get through smoothly. I have a lot of experience, but when you’re out and you’re brand new and you’re sitting in that driver’s seat, it can be frightening because you’re thinking, I don’t really know what I’m doing. And if your significant other hasn’t taken the time to explain what’s going on, now you’re being thrown into a situation. Sometimes just utilizing whoever that spotter is, um, for the group is a great way to sort of separate that husband and wife dynamic, generally, a really good spotter will walk up to the driver, sense that there’s a husband and wife kind of deal and just talk to her by themselves. Spray them both down with bear spray.
Well, this is a, this is a really good conversation, but we’re going to have to wrap it up so we can get onto the next segment, uh, Wendy. So my fault for interrupting, but let’s, let’s wrap this segment up. Okay. So you can go to the show notes to understand some verbal commands. I like nonverbal. Um, verbal commands can be confusing. So maybe I’ll take this up Tony on the next episode and kind of start where we left off so I can talk about different kinds of verbal commands. Cause I think they’re important for people to know, especially when you’re new. So absolutely. Great.
Yeah. Welcome to fabricating frenzy with Larry, also known as Geeving Mo, whose hair is not curly.
All right, Tony. So I’ve been to the last couple EJS and always enjoyed the vendor areas. And so for this one, we’re going to have to live through you a little bit on this one and it would be easy.
Just curious to know if you got to talk to any of the vendors or seeing any, any cool products there. You know, what was your experience like in the, uh, in the vendor area or, or even with the vendors? So, uh, I did not spend a lot of time with vendors. I stopped to talk to a few of them that I’ve interviewed in the past. And they were very busy with a customer.
And my wife and I waited for the wall. It was very windy out there on Thursday. Uh, and, uh, it was, uh, it was cold. It was not as cold. So, uh, now I did get to meet with Patrick, uh, the, uh, the gentleman I interviewed last Friday, we released last Friday with a Bavarian, uh, O R Z. Uh, it looks so much like QRZ. I always want to say QRZ. QRZ is a, uh, uh, a ham, uh, a radio, a Q code. Uh, but anyway, yeah. Oh, O R Z Bavarian. And this is the gentleman from Germany, Munich, Germany, where they make a four and a half inch lift for the Jeep, uh, make, uh, the wheels, uh, and, uh, they could put 39 inch tires on. Oh, uh, while I was talking to Patrick out there, I asked him, I said, I didn’t ask you this, uh, on the, the interview, but I was curious, uh, do you drive your, uh, is it elephant, uh, engine? Is it the elephant engine? Well, I think it’s elephant or maybe that’s why he said it. Hello, hello, font. That’s right. He has that in one of his, one of his Jeeps is, which is a gladiator. And I asked him, do you take the gladiator on the Audubon? He said, yes. At 150 kilometers per hour. Nice.
Do you feel safe driving on the Audubon? He says, yes. I said, does everybody else, whatever you’re on it, 39 inch tires and, uh, a lot of horsepower. So it was real fun getting to meet Patrick. And again, just recently interviewed him. Uh, I, I stopped by, uh, RPM, uh, suspensions, the people that have the, uh, the aluminum, uh, uh, high rod and drag link, uh, and a few, and a few other things, uh, really good interview with him. And, uh, he was talking to a guy that was kicking the tires on the vehicles. Waited a while, uh, just, uh, just couldn’t wait any longer, but I was just going to say, hi, I felt it was better that he talked to a potential customer than some, uh, some guy that was, uh, that does interviews on a show. So, uh, yeah. And, uh, I got to, uh, I got to spend some time with Rosie at Max’s tires. Uh, did an interview with her. Uh, and, uh, oh, I ran into, um, I believe his name is Trent with, uh, Rock slide engineering. Does that sound right to you, Larry? Uh, Trent or Trevor. I can’t remember. Okay. Probably Trevor. I think Trent is with the center force. All right. So, uh, did a little interview, uh, with the gentleman from Rock slide engineering. Okay. And when I walked up to him, I said, is this that cheap piece of shit that everybody’s talking about? Oh my God. He did not make him friend. Well, I met him last year and of course, of course I am how I am. And I said, so would you, would you like to do an interview? I said, I won’t say the cheap piece of shit. He goes, no, I think you should do that. That’s funny. So he’s right up my alley. So that’s how we started the interview, which you’ll be able to see that soon on social media and on YouTube. Um, uh, I did get a chance to talk to Dennis of, uh, TerraFlex, uh, but it was the same situation on Thursday. Uh, well, we, my wife and got there and man, Dennis is talks to everybody talks to them a long time, give them all the information that they need. And then, uh, the next day I came back Friday, I came back just to do a quick, uh, talk with Tom of a four Fest events. And, uh, I actually got to meet, uh, I actually have met him before, but I’m, I met, uh, Todd with trails off road out there, uh, at the, uh, at the, the, the vendor meet on Friday and did a, uh, interview with him and the gladiator. Well, but what was really cool was, uh, I think we’re talking about vendors. So I think this is, this is all right. So, uh, what was really cool is, uh, Todd and I were trying to figure out a time that we could get the other to do the interview. And I said, um, so I’m going to be going to Moab diner first thing in the morning. We, you know, we’re doing the meetup there every day. And, uh, he said, uh, great, I’ll meet you there. And I said, well, you know, if you want to come on in and have breakfast with us, which he did, and it was really, really cool. He had a shirt on that said trails off road, but it’s just a guy, you know, you don’t know who these people are. And, uh, I was introducing him to the group that was there. And I, and they walked a couple of guys walked over there, uh, to Todd and, uh, shook hands and I said, this is Todd. And you can see the look on her face like, okay, some guy hello. And I said, with trails off road and the eyes got big and they were like, Oh, wow.
Yeah. So it was really, it made me feel great that because of the Jeep talk show, uh, these people that came out and that were with the Jeep talk show, uh, roaming around was actually able to meet, uh, somebody that has a product that they’re, uh, familiar with and used and they can immediately complain about. And that’s a big thing about EJS. There’s so many people there are all just say, are the who’s who, do you just don’t know because a lot of them, they don’t tell you who they are. They just, they’re all there just having a good time. Yeah. So it’s always been amazing to me when you go, when you get there, Oh, I know that person from here. I know that person from there. And it just happens all day long. I had a few minutes, uh, at the, the sundown grill, uh, dinner thing that they had on Wednesday night. Uh, I had a few minutes to talk to Brad of trail recon. Uh, it’s, I met him for the first time last year, but it’s always fun talking to him online, doing interviews and stuff. But, uh, we got to talk a little, a little, uh, back, uh, back country, not back country. So a little background information about Jeep and our ideas about what we think is going on with, uh, with Jeep and nothing I’m going to talk about here. So don’t, don’t forget Brad.
But it was, it was a good behind the scenes conversation. Also saw, uh, saw Steve, uh, with power tank. He was easy, easy to find because he was desperately trying to get away from F U Bob.
And, and Bob had him, you know, like, Oh no, you can’t get away. No, Bob, Bob is a great conversationalist and he was over there talking. Uh, and it was Steve and his, I believe his son, uh, that were there. And, uh, so I got to say hello to Steve again this year. And, uh, fortunately, uh, he was not at the power tank booth at the vendor show. He was off doing something else, uh, which kept me from buying any power tank stuff. So that’s why I say, so I actually, I guess I did, uh, beat quite a few vendors, but it was a lot of people that I’d already talked to online or, and some of them that I had, uh, I had met last year. I will say this, uh, I didn’t necessarily notice it. Um, but it did appear that the vendor show was not as, um, populated, not as aggressive as it was last year. Uh, possibly fewer vendors. Uh, oh, and I ran across, uh, Alan, uh, at Diabolical, uh, Inc. Uh, they make the, I think you saw some of that stuff that, uh, that Bill has last year. So Alan was there. He was right next to the Bavarian, uh, booth or whatever. Oh, and, uh, I don’t know if you know this or not. Uh, either one of you know this or not, because it was kind of quite a while ago. And I think it’s more of a XJ, TJ thing. Uh, but I got to meet, uh, the guy that used to own, um, Rubicon express and he now works for Bavarian and he was the one, the main one in the booth when I got there and we were talking about all kinds of stuff from way back when. And, uh, so, uh, then Patrick was, uh, was getting lunch or something. And then Patrick walked up and then Patrick had to listen to us continue talking about, uh, uh, XJs and TJs and things.
But it was great getting to meet both those guys. And I think you’re going to be hearing more about Bavarian, uh, here on the show. Very cool. Sounds like a good show then for you. It was, it was, I, but still, I feel like I should have met more people. Um, but yeah, that’s always the case. There’s always more to see and do with EJS. Yeah, but there’s, but you want to wheel too, but that’s a whole part of it. You know, that’s not just, so I don’t know if you guys know this or not. I really didn’t do much wheeling. It was, uh, it was interviews and talking to people and going to these things. And, uh, uh, we had a campfire, uh, the outside of, uh, uh, Zabos, uh, rent house, uh, that I think almost everybody that was there with the Jeep talk show attended. And it was perfect weather for a campfire and it was a wonderful fire. And it was a wonderful time. Uh, uh, Mark Zabow, Fettis, uh, hamburgers and hot dogs. That’s cool stuff. Yeah. You can’t replace a good, uh, good time around a campfire like that. Well, it sounded like it was a good trip and then yeah, shit. Wish I would have been able to come, but hopefully next year. Well, we know we can always count on you. Uh, not so much Steve-O. So I was really surprised to see Steve-O there because last things, you know, I couldn’t go cause I got a hangnail.
Poor Steve-O. I like it that he can’t defend himself. Exactly. He can’t unless he calls in, then he can defend. I don’t have to play it. That’s true. Yeah, but it was a lot of fun and we missed you. Oh, and I think you, everybody knows, Chuck did show up. I think he showed up on Wednesday, uh, Tuesday, Wednesday, but he showed up and I got to wheel with Chuck and Greg Henderson. Uh, but not, not name, nothing, not a big trail or anything, nothing difficult, nothing I needed to the skid, uh, the motorboat skid system for. And I, and I know I’ve already told you guys this. I met Dan with motor built great guy. Um, and then I got to meet a bender. I talked to him several times on the show, uh, first time meeting him in person. So, um, that they had a motor built function at, uh, grandpa’s garage. And I don’t know if everybody’s familiar with grandpa’s garage, but it’s just this guy’s house and he has a garage and you can come over there and work on your stuff or have these events. And, uh, motor built, uh, was there at grandpa’s garage. And since my wife went with me and she handles the whole talking to people a lot better than me, uh, she started talking to grandma and then that led into talking about talking to grandpa. And when I walked over there, I got to talk to him. So I didn’t have to, I didn’t have to do the, the, uh, the breaking the ice thing she did. Yeah. Love it. Good. Good for her. Yeah.
From the mind of Nikki G. Hey, this is Nikki G. I like her mind everybody now that the weather is turning warm to be mindful and respectful of all us XJ drivers on the road. Uh, yeah, we’re not really paying attention to the road cause our eyeballs are glued to the temperature gauge for the next four months. It’s going to be like that. Well, that’s not why I’m calling. I’m calling to tell you that I created an air freshener that is controlled by the power of thought. Yeah. You control it with your mind. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it makes sense when you think about it. No, it doesn’t. What can I say? They all can’t be winners. All right, boys and girls, I’ll chat you later. Have a good one. Bye.
So chip and I recorded the last Thursday’s flagship episode. And if you haven’t listened to that, go and listen, because chip and I both think, uh, Nikki G was literally trying to lower the bar so that the future, so future jokes would go, well, it was better than last episode. I love that. All right. And coming up on Friday, this, this Friday coming up, which is a, every Friday is a interview episode, big rich of Cal rocks. Then we rock for low magazine, uh, off-road motorsports hall of fame, uh, board of directors and on the Rubicon trail foundation board of directors. And this guy is so successful. We were doing the interview while he was on his 48 foot long boat, uh, in the docked at Port Aransas. Uh, and uh, he had a star link on the boat so he could do the, uh, do the interview. Uh, and so he lived, uh, I think he said 12 years in a modified, uh, tractor trailer for RV. So he and his wife were driving around. They do events. Uh, he’s very much involved in all of this, uh, all the Jeep and off-road stuff. And, uh, yeah, it was just a cool dude. Cool. And I kept calling him rich. He never corrected me, but I was trying to remember to call him big rich.
So, uh, that’s a good interview. And again, coming up this Friday, uh, all right, I want to mention this to all you guys coming up on April 21st in beautiful Katie, Texas, the Jeep talk show Jeep meets. This is a monthly Jeep event at Katie crossings ice house. It goes on from 1 PM to 4 PM. And this is on a Sunday. Uh, Katie is about 20 miles west of Houston. I’ll be there. Greg with underground graphics, Todd with off-roading one on one.com and Clint from Texas four wheel drive, uh, a Facebook group and also a club, if you will, uh, here in the Houston area. I think it’s, I think it’s Texas wine. Uh, I just know about the local stuff. So if you want to talk to somebody about graphics on your, on your vehicle, he does all kinds of graphics, not just for Jeeps, but Jeeps, uh, Broncos, uh, motorcycles, all kinds of things. And you just, you’ve never done it. And you don’t know how much it costs and you don’t know, uh, what, what vinyl they should be looking for. Greg will be there. He’ll be happy to just answer all your questions about that. And if you see, does he ship outside of Texas? He does. Yeah. You can go to underground graphics.com. I think a couple of the team members had a Jeep talk show stickers on their Jeeps that came from Greg. I just got some of his work myself. Cause I’m, I’m curious. Uh, some of the graphics we’ve been using here in Southern California, they’re peeling on my windows and I’m tired of it. I’m tired of spending money. So that’s what Greg knows a lot about. He’s been doing this for a long, long time. XJtalk.com was a forum that still, still operational, but it’s a forum that I started I think in 2005 and the first, uh, die cut stickers that we used, I got from underground graphics, uh, Greg at underground graphics. So I’ve known him for a long time and he’s very knowledgeable on what kind of vinyl should be used for outside. And it’s, it’s always changing. So, uh, they can do, they can do full vehicle wraps and watch. And, and, and, uh, Bill, if you’ve seen any of the graphics on Bill’s a Jeep, uh, actually, I think he did the ones for, uh, John Lee as well. Uh, but, uh, the graphics on Bill’s, Bill’s Jeep, he, he literally drives down from Austin to Houston so that they can work on it there. Uh, it’s no, it’s a three hour drive. It’s no big deal to him. But, uh, so, uh, yeah, but, uh, Greg does wonderful work. I’m very proud to have him come out with, uh, uh, with the Jeep talk show for this event. And, uh, he’s planning on being there every month. So you can, it’s, it’s a great opportunity to, to ask questions as is, uh, if you’re thinking about taking some off-roading classes, uh, Todd, offroading101.com, uh, great to talk to him about it. And, uh, you can talk to Clint. Uh, Clint is very knowledgeable about, about the, uh, uh, the state run parks, uh, in Texas. So, uh, he’s a great individual to talk to just to maybe getting something set up for an event for, for your group or, uh, uh, so on and so forth. Uh, great, lots of great information. I’m there for no, no, no other reason than just to show you the, the, the big red Jeep. Yeah. All right. And we got an email recently, uh, confirming the date for the, uh, uh, Jeep talk show off-road event in Texas. It is June 8th. Uh, and this will be the fourth annual. I need to count these cause I’m thinking it’s fourth. I’m pretty sure it is. Yeah, it sounds like it. Okay. So the June 8th is the fourth annual Jeep talk show off-road Texas event. It will be at Hidden Falls adventure park, which is near Marlboro falls, Texas. Uh, the official get together is on the eighth, which is a Saturday, but there will be an unofficial, uh, on the, uh, possibly the sixth as far as you get there on Thursday. And, uh, I think John Lee and Bill are planning on being there on the sixth. So there may be some wheeling to do again, not necessarily the, the Jeep talk show event, but part of it. Uh, the seventh is a, I think it’s a, that is a definite as far as driving around to some of the local areas, maybe getting barbecue at a really good barbecue place, uh, John Lee approved. And, uh, so, uh, and there may be some people, you just, you just have to ask the folks that are there on Saturday if they’re going to stay Sunday. So if you’re coming from a great distance away, there’s a potential here that you could do three and a half days or a good solid three days of off-road goodness, uh, before you’re, uh, uh, trekking back the long duration. Uh, so this will be good news for, for you, Larry, if you, if you want to stay, it won’t be drive a bunch of hours. And then I’ve already got the bunk house reserve Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Perfect. Leaving Sunday. Perfect. So anyway, uh, still not finalized. I mean the eighth is finalized, but as far as the other days, uh, not, uh, not, uh, chiseled in stone yet. So keep listening for more details. Oh, and you’ve heard us talking about our discord server. It’s a great place to chat with the Jeep talk show family. Everyone is welcome. Just go to Jeep talk show.com slash contact to find out how to join. It’s free and no software to download. You can install an app or a program on your computer, but you don’t have to. You can just use your browser to get into it.
All right. And this week’s must have stuff for your Jeep. And, uh, and Wendy said this earlier, I got to get one of those. Everybody says they got to get one of these things. Get one before you have an accident. And then the accident is probably going to be somebody doing something goofy. And if you run into the back of them without, uh, and I’m not saying this will keep you from getting a ticket, uh, but it may, especially if you give it to your insurance company, uh, and you can see what shenanigans were going on before you ran into them. And believe me, there are people out there that are trying to do insurance scams and, uh, we’ll, uh, we’ll make you, uh, run to the back of them. So, uh, it can’t do anything but help you, uh, in cases like that. Keep in mind, it can’t hurt you if you act the fool out on the, out on the roads.
So, uh, as I mentioned, uh, this week is a dash cam. I have the Rexon V1 4k ultra HD, uh, car dash cam. Uh, it has a built in screen. I actually put it up so high on my, uh, my windshield. It does not obscure my vision. In fact, I can’t even see it because it’s, uh, the, the rear view mirror blocks it. Uh, but, uh, it comes on with, uh, when I turn on the vehicle and it turns off a few minutes after I, uh, turn the vehicle off. So I will be using this, uh, for some of the, I guess you would call it B roll, uh, from being in, uh, uh, Moab this year. And Larry, I remember to take a, another card. So I didn’t have the last 10 hours of me driving home. Oh look, it’s a highway. Oh, that’s kind of cool.
So I remember this still Texas. Yeah. I remember to change the card this time. So, uh, actually, uh, I have, uh, I have three cards that were used. Uh, so, uh, I have not reviewed any of it yet, but you could well imagine that’s a lot of time, uh, video in there. So, uh, but I’m hoping to mix that up with some of the stuff, uh, some of the video my wife took, uh, with her, uh, her phone. Uh, and I think I’ve told you guys this up on Shafer’s trail. Uh, she wanted, the, it was beautiful, absolutely beautiful, but she was terrified and she literally had her phone pointing out the side, uh, the side door, uh, not, not literally out of the vehicle, but you know, pointing through the open window. And I noticed that she was looking forward. She wasn’t watching their camera. And I said, how are you, you know what kind of shot that you’re getting? She goes, I don’t care.
I can’t look at this. I’ll look at it later. And it literally took her a couple of days before she could actually review it. She was so scared, but she still had the mindset to, you know, not just huddle in a quivering mass, just to run the camera. So I’m sure we’ll have some of that in there too. Yeah, it was a lot of fun.
Oh, and I don’t think I put it here. The, uh, the, the dash cam is, uh, yeah, here it is, is $94 and 99 cents. And there is a link in our show notes, uh, for episode, uh, 1,014. Uh, so you can go right over to amazon.com and click that link and purchase this, uh, this camera. It’s been a great camera. I mean, I got this shortly after I got the, uh, the gladiator. Uh, and that does mean that it’s an older camera. So there may be other ones out there that you want to have a look at. I can just vouch for this one personally. Uh, it works great. And again, you, if you want to wait and see some of the videos that will be up on the, uh, YouTube, uh, Jeep talk show channel, you can do that and see what the quality looks like.
All right. Well, thanks for listening to this episode of the Jeep talk show. If you’ve enjoyed the show, please leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast podcast podcast.
Platform. Your feedback helps us improve the show and reach more Jeep enthusiasts like yourself. Also don’t forget to follow us on Instagram and sign up for our email, uh, newsletter to stay up to date on the latest Jeep news and events. Finally, if you have any questions or comments or ideas for future episodes, we’d love to hear from you. I know Wendy and Larry both would love to hear from you on ideas, uh, and let them know how you, what you think about, uh, the, what they cover already. Wendy gives us a lot of great information. Oh, and I think I told you this already, Wendy, but nobody was using hand signals on the trails. Yeah. Well, that’s, yes, that I would expect an event like that. Okay. Okay. I mean, no, no Jeep wave. Obviously there’s just too many. No, the hand signals now. Yeah. But no hand signals. Uh, and, uh, anyway, thanks again for listening and we’ll see you on the next episode of the Jeep talk show. Wendy, Larry, thank you for being here. Yep. Thanks for having us. Bye.
Broadcasting sense.
[inaudible] you’re my friend. You’re my new friend.