2023 Overland Year in Review: Grenadier Wins, Starlink Goes Mobile, Gear Picks & 2024 Plans

Scott Brady

Scott Brady is an adventurer, author, and publisher, and the first person in history to cross all seven continents. Brady is executive publisher of the Overland Collective, home to Overland Journal, the Overland Journal Podcast, and expeditionportal.com—the world’s largest vehicle-dependent adventure community. Scott wrote Overlanding 101 (Simon & Schuster) and is currently riding around the world on his BMW GS. He also led Expeditions 7, the first expedition to drive the same vehicle on all seven continents. Brady’s polar crossings include Antarctica and a south–north crossing of the Greenland ice sheet. Scott is a fellow of the Explorers Club and lives in Prescott, Arizona.

Matt Scott

Matt is a leading expert in automotive adventure. He has extensively explored the world’s most remote places by 4WD and is considered an industry authority on overland travel. He is the only American to ever become an editor of a major Australian 4WD publication and has over 15 years of competitive auto racing experience. @mattexplore

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Transcript

Scott Brady: [00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to the Overland Journal Podcast. I’m your host, Scott Brady, and I’m recording this intro on a snowy Prescott evening here in the winter of 2023. And I’m joined today by my co-host, Matt Scott, and we look back on the year 2023. We talk about the family that we awarded our Overlander of the Year to.

We also discuss what we view as being the new overland vehicle of 2023. Matt and I also go through our list of our favorite gear from the year. We also spend some time talking about some new products from family-run businesses. We really like to highlight small family businesses on the podcast, so we’ve got a, a couple great ones from there.

We also talk about a couple questions from our listeners and, uh, we really look forward to our travels for 2024, so we talk a little bit about that as well. So [00:01:00] 2023 was an amazing and interesting year, and we look back on the adventures from the last 12 months.

Matt Scott: And a special thanks to Kuat Racks for their support of this week’s podcast.

Scott Brady: Their new Ibex has landed. It’s actually overlanded. This groundbreaking bed rack is effortlessly handling substantial loads both on and off the grid. Constructed from lightweight yet durable aluminum, it boasts a ballistic black powder coat made for all the nature you can throw at it. It’s available in six different frame sizes to accommodate most truck models, and it’s equipped with telescoping crossbars, numerous T-channels, and a versatile full and half height configuration right out of the box.

This is the Ibex from Kuat. It is engineered for adventure.

Matt Scott: For more details, please visit kuat.com. Kuat, because you will absolutely [00:02:00] love this bed rack

Scott Brady: So Matt, 2023 came to an end. We may- Thankfully … may, may have learned a couple things along the way. We can talk about- Yeah, it was, it

Matt Scott: was an interesting year

talk about that Right? I mean, it was kinda this first year that everything felt normal-ish.

Scott Brady: Yeah

Matt Scott: Still dealing with, I think as travelers, still dealing with the consequences of the whole pandemic thing, but-

Scott Brady: Sure …

Matt Scott: it’s better now.

Scott Brady: Yeah, and even some of the countries that I was traveling through were finally not requiring-

Matt Scott: It was a pain

Scott Brady: PCR tests and everything else

Matt Scott: It was a pain to travel when you had- Yeah … to do that

Scott Brady: It was difficult. And it was, I think it was, for me it was always just, like, this fear that you were gonna get stuck.

Matt Scott: Yeah

Scott Brady: Like, where you’d be in Italy, some beautiful place, but you’re actually stuck in a hotel for two weeks-

Matt Scott: Yeah

Scott Brady: just so you can fly

Matt Scott: home And the cost of that-

Scott Brady: Yeah … you know Exactly … super unpredictable Yeah, it was really unpredictable. So it’s nice to see a lot of that behind us, and-

Matt Scott: [00:03:00] Yeah

Scott Brady: But then there’s new dynamics entering the world. So, like, even right now, me trying to get this Grenadier into Djibouti and get, and get it shipped to Europe- Oh

Matt Scott: yeah- So-

’cause

Scott Brady: the whole

Matt Scott: Red Sea

Scott Brady: thing with the- It’s on the Red Sea, so it’s- The

Matt Scott: Houthi rebels.

Scott Brady: Yes Which

Matt Scott: just sounds like something from Star Wars.

Scott Brady: It- Like- It does. It does

Matt Scott: Which is kinda, I don’t know, not to make light of it, but I’m gonna find some joy in the world right now.

Scott Brady: Yeah. Yeah, and it’s, I mean, I’m gonna figure it out, but it’s challenging.

Like, it’s difficult to- Yeah … to figure out those, those challenges when the, um, you know, when the world makes such a change like that, such a big shift. So-

Matt Scott: But there’s a lot of good, there was a lot of good this year, I think. Um, a lot of, you know, inspiring people getting out, back- Yeah … to their travels, which was cool.

We’re gonna- That’s right … talk about some of those people. Um, also just a lot of new vehicles that either were announced this year that were, are quite significant or vehicles that started being delivered this year. [00:04:00] Yep. Yeah Um, you know, we say it all the time, but who would have thought in, well, now 2024, that we would have companies actually making vehicles for this, um, this pursuit of overlanding

Scott Brady: Well, and we kinda learned that from Dave when we had just had Dave Harriton on the podcast recently.

So those who wanna listen, check that out Yeah, that was a

Matt Scott: really good one Yeah, it

Scott Brady: was a really good one, but it was, it was an important kind of reminder that even if the OEMs see this big opportunity with overlanding, that it takes a while for them-

Matt Scott: Yeah …

Scott Brady: to be able to adjust. So to see the shift from what is the last of the GX 460s To what is gonna be the GX 550

Matt Scott: And they listened.

It’s a great looking car.

Scott Brady: Oh my gosh. I mean, not only does it, it’s finally a GX that looks great again.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: Uh, but it’s also gonna be more capable than ever before. Locking differential. Like, just a lot about it is gonna be [00:05:00] great. Yeah, the GX

Matt Scott: has always been one of, if not, you know, the best platform in the

Scott Brady: US.

It was one of the, it was one

Matt Scott: of the best, for sure. Um, direct size. You know, the 200, no disrespect to it, um, very durable-

Scott Brady: Mm-hmm …

Matt Scott: but, um, bloated.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: And the, the G- You had

Scott Brady: to pay a lot for that extra durability.

Matt Scott: Yeah. And y- I, I just, I, the 150 Prado that-

Scott Brady: Yeah …

Matt Scott: that’s based on, it’s pretty, pretty comparable for 99% of use.

Scott Brady: In its own right. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

Matt Scott: We have Grenadier that finally came to market, which I think is just so cool. I think just the story behind that car is great. I, I love the way it looks. Um, you’ve obviously spent a bunch of time in it. Um, and new Land Cruiser, you know, like that nameplate’s actually coming back to the US.

Scott Brady: Yep. ‘

Matt Scott: Cause it’s interesting the, you know, again, to go back to the 200, you know, I think, was it ’21 was the last year for- Mm-hmm … the 200 in the US?

Scott Brady: Mm-hmm.

Matt Scott: Yeah. Um, we’ve been Land Cruiser-less for the first time in a very long time.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: [00:06:00] Uh, and- I think there’s a reason for that. Like, it, it did not sell, it did not really translate to the US market.

I mean, uh, for all intents and purposes, they’re about 100 grand.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: And you can get a lot more vehicle f- for the money. Um, you know, they’re, they’re simple in, in their execution of a- of, of, of how it was made, but just behind the times. I mean, like, pick an obscure Ferrari and they sold more of those than they did 200 series Land Cruiser, so-

Scott Brady: Right

Matt Scott: clearly the consumers were speaking that, you know, this wasn’t, you know.

Scott Brady: Well, and in, in most travel in North America, you either, you either need something more capable if you wanna get really remote, or they’re, somebody wants something more luxurious for the price. Yeah. So it, it did put it in a weird spot, which is why they sold so many more Lexus variants- Yeah,

Matt Scott: yeah

Scott Brady: than they did the Land Cruiser variants, ’cause the Lexus had- They were

Matt Scott: basically the same money at that point. Remember we’re talking, I, one was- Very

Scott Brady: similar …

Matt Scott: like, maybe it was 5% difference.

Scott Brady: Yeah, very similar. And [00:07:00] the Lexus nameplate had the cachet, and then it had an air ride suspension system- Yeah … and it had some additional luxuries that I think resonated better with the consumer.

But it’s really exciting to see the Land Cruiser coming back- Yeah … in this highly- It

Matt Scott: looks good too, like- …

Scott Brady: highly capable format.

Matt Scott: Um, you know, Toyota and Lexus, they either n- like, knock it out of the park with styling-

Scott Brady: Yeah …

Matt Scott: or they, uh, do some questionable things.

Scott Brady: They, and, yeah, and if you look at the new GX, it looks great.

You either love it or

Matt Scott: hate it.

Scott Brady: Yeah. If you look at the new E- GX, it’s great. If you look at the new Land Cruiser, it looks great. I,

Matt Scott: I agree. Um, I think it’s cool they’re doing that kinda heritage pack with the round lights.

Scott Brady: Totally.

Matt Scott: Um, yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s an interesting time to, uh, to be into this hobby and, um-

Scott Brady: And the lineup just continues from there.

If you look at the new stuff coming out from GM with all the AEV packages.

Matt Scott: GM is, like, more, more so than anyone, taking it really serious and, you know-

Scott Brady: Yeah, they care, they really care about addressing [00:08:00] the needs of overland travelers.

Matt Scott: I’m, I’ve never been a GM guy, ever. Like, i- i- it was just a brand that never- Really appealed to me.

I was always like, my daddy was a Ford man-

Scott Brady: Yeah …

Matt Scott: kind of thing, you know, and there is that tribalism with it. But if I was to go buy a new pickup truck right now, it would be the 2500 AV-

Scott Brady: Yeah …

Matt Scott: Bison. I think that’s what they’re calling it. Um, it’s phenomenal. Drove that recently, and it’s so quiet inside, and it’s so comfortable.

And-

Scott Brady: Great motor, 10-speed automatic- Like- … rear- locking differential- You could just put- … Multimatic …

Matt Scott: so many miles on it. Yeah. You could just go and-

Scott Brady: Still has a 2,600-pound payload, so yeah, it is kind of a sweet spot

Matt Scott: now. Which is so significant because, um, when you look at a lot of these full-size trucks, they don’t actually have that much payload.

Scott Brady: Yeah, they really get hammered- Um- … on payload …

Matt Scott: you know, like, I think that my Prospector, now granted this is after bumpers, winch, and everything, and it’s recertified. I, I think that that had, like, 1,500 pounds.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: [00:09:00] 1,600 pounds, and you can get that now in a… The new Tacoma- Yeah … is also being delivered, which, you know, we have to make sure that we mention.

The Tacoma doesn’t suck anymore.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: Um-

Scott Brady: On the payload side, yeah.

Matt Scott: Yeah, I mean, let me, let me, uh, let me clarify that. The Tacoma has never sucked. It’s always been a, a, a very solid choice. It just wasn’t as good as it could be.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: And I think, again, they recognized that. You know, it’s got a great little, that 2.4 turbo that they’re putting in it, mild hybrid, which I think is cool.

Um, particularly ’cause if Toyota’s doing it, it’s likely gonna be a proven system.

Scott Brady: Mm-hmm.

Matt Scott: It’s not the newest technology. I think it’s still, like, a nickel metal hydride battery- They do use that- … or something … in

Scott Brady: the trucks, yeah.

Matt Scott: But, uh, it looks great, available with a manual transmission. And you had some sweet spot with it that you would choose as, like, the, the, whatever they called it, like the not-

Scott Brady: They have like an ex-

four- They have an extra cab, which doesn’t actually have any seats. So it’s, like, a spot for a fridge- Oh … or you can put your dog back there or whatever, [00:10:00] and then you end up with, like, this 1,700-pound payload.

Matt Scott: Which you can

Scott Brady: comfortably- And a man- and a manual transmission … I

Matt Scott: mean, can you put one of those little Scout Camp- you could put one of those little Scout Campers in it.

Scott Brady: Totally. All day long.

Matt Scott: I mean-

Scott Brady: Yeah, all day long …

Matt Scott: you know.

Scott Brady: Be a nice little combo.

Matt Scott: Yeah. I mean, I-

Scott Brady: And then, and then you look at, like, the new you look at the new, uh, Bison, you know, ZR2 Colorado. I mean, that thing- Crazy … is insane.

Matt Scott: Like, it, it’s-

Scott Brady: It’s 35s-

Matt Scott: If you think- …

Scott Brady: jounces …

Matt Scott: that you want a Raptor for overlanding- Yeah

which, hey, I’ve done that. It’s a great- the Raptor’s a great truck out of the box. This is actually, like, what you want. It’s the appropriate size. Right. You know, little larger wheel arches so that the body naturally then becomes a little bit more sucked in- Right … for the, for the track width. A very, very cool car.

Front and rear-

Scott Brady: Lockers

Matt Scott: Yeah … lockers, uh,

Scott Brady: four corner Multimatic, four corner- Yeah … hydraulic jounces. It’s- It- Yeah, factory 35s, it’s [00:11:00] nuts.

Matt Scott: Well, it, it, it kinda almost starts to beg this question on how necessary some of the aftermarket is. Mm. And, you know, maybe-

Scott Brady: That’ll be the, that’ll be the hard part for the aftermarket

you

Matt Scott: know, you, you end up having styling choices that people- Mm … y- will, will want to modify their cars just to, you know, display their personality. Um, and then you’ll have people that, you know, won’t maybe throw down for the, using the Colorado, they won’t throw down for the Bison. But having built a lot of these trucks, um, particularly in the world that we live in, which is one based on monthly payment number and finance, uh, I don’t, I don’t know why you wouldn’t.

Like, it’s, it’s, it’s such a pain to build trucks these days, and- And

Scott Brady: a car loan rate is gonna be better than a credit card rate, so-

Matt Scott: Yeah …

Scott Brady: and you’re not gonna have to spend the time, you’re not gonna have to go to a shop, you’re not gonna have to take it back when they don’t do it right. It’s just- And even- It’s all under warranty

Matt Scott: even the best shops, like, uh, you know, I, I, in 2023 I sold my Prospector, [00:12:00] which I do have regrets on. Um, though I did replace it with something that was also four-wheel drive and fun. Um, it was just done and I was able to enjoy it. Yeah And it j- uh, you know, and I had it for a little over a year, and I was able to enjoy it for a year.

Um, you know, previously to that I had the Gladiator, which I didn’t buy as an AEV truck ’cause I had one of the first ones.

Scott Brady: Mm-hmm.

Matt Scott: But all the AEV stuff got put on. And collectively of maybe… Gee, I had that car for a little bit. Over two years. Yeah, sure. That’s a, that’s a, that’s a bit in Matt Scott world. It

Scott Brady: is, yeah.

Matt Scott: Vehicle ADD. Um, collectively that, that vehicle was in the shop for months.

Scott Brady: Yeah

Matt Scott: Getting, you know, okay, this part came out, I have to upfit this, I have to upfit this. Um, you know, shops were really busy, uh, you know, the last couple years. But you just get this time back, and I think that that’s, that’s really what I think we’re starting to see in, in ’23, were these factory overlanders.

Um, Grenadier has to [00:13:00] be mentioned. I mean, you can, you know, you can get your roof rack, you can get-

Scott Brady: All of it …

Matt Scott: all of the- Snorkel … snork- like, everything Steel wheel … dual battery system … steel

Scott Brady: wheels, dual battery, everything.

Matt Scott: And, and y- you know, and the cool thing is you’re not paying for this stuff twice, because when you, if you’re gonna buy a vehicle and then straight off the bat you’re gonna put wheels and tires on it, you’re buying two sets of wheels and tires.

Scott Brady: Mm-hmm.

Matt Scott: You know, you’re never g- You know, tires don’t appreciate.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: They depreciate quite rapidly even-

Scott Brady: Yeah, they do …

Matt Scott: if they’re new-ish, um, to try and resell them. So yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s been so cool I think, you know, putting like the automotive journalist hat on to just see where the industry’s going. So, and you know if GM’s doing it, and you know Jeep’s starting to do it with-

Scott Brady: They are

Matt Scott: AV upfits and… I mean, Jeep was kind of, I guess, somewhat early on with steel bumpers and, and that kind of stuff, but-

Scott Brady: Well, what’s really nice to see though is, like the most recent versions of the Wrangler, they have [00:14:00] full floating rear axles now, which s- there are Wranglers now that have a 5,000-pound towing capacity- Yeah

which is the first time I’ve ever seen that. Significant. And some of them have, you know, almost 1,500 pounds of payload. So the Wrangler’s getting better than it e- I mean, everything’s just getting better than it ever has been. So, um, yeah, it no longer is valid when you think of, like the 1990s were the pinnacle of overland vehicles.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: Like, I’ve owned a lot of those cars.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: Like, I used to have a line of them behind you here. Yep. And I can tell you that- Most of these modern vehicles are better

Matt Scott: I-

Scott Brady: They’re just better …

Matt Scott: I, I love that kind of ’90s era. I was born in 1990, and that, those were the cars that I kinda grew up with- Yeah

and, and I’ve been a car nut my entire life. Um, using, like, the 80 series Land Cruiser, for example, very nostalgic. Had one of them when I was in… I had a really rusty, bad one when I was in college.

Scott Brady: Yeah, but then you had the Disco one, you had all those- I

Matt Scott: had a Disco one, I had all these things. [00:15:00] One, the fuel costs on them, um, right there is- Yeah

uh, if we’re thinking of it as a monthly payment or whatever, or let’s think of it, um, through the eyes of a traveler, um, you can, you can get a vehicle that gets twice the fuel economy- Oh, yeah … and that is the, those are the expenses that really affect you while you’re on the road.

Scott Brady: The 4xe Wrangler I’ve been driving, right now, if you look at the average miles per gallon, 28.7.

Matt Scott: Yeah. That’s insane.

Scott Brady: It’s insane. Like a- In a Ran- in a Wrangler …

Matt Scott: a, a built, a built 80 would struggle to get 10.

Scott Brady: Yeah, exactly.

Matt Scott: And I believe it-

Scott Brady: So it’s almost three times more.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: So that’s pretty- Um- That’s pretty amazing.

Matt Scott: You know, and you can get that from an EV turnkey done.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: At-

Scott Brady: Yeah, I really like, I really like the plug-in hybrid concept.

I mean, um, it’s easy to get into this debate on EVs- Mm … which I think is somewhat foolish because there are, EVs work for some people, and they don’t work for others- Yeah … and you just look at it as simply as that, but the plug-in hybrid is [00:16:00] really the sweet spot because, like, I, the last couple days I’ve been driving this 4xe around, and I’m using no fuel ’cause I just plug it in at the office- Yeah

and it’s a seven-minute commute to my house.

Matt Scott: Perfect. Back and- And they have, like, they have what, like, a 25-

Scott Brady: 25-mile range.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: So e- and even if you put big tires on it and put some stuff on it for overlanding, the vehicle would still be able to go back and forth to my house without having

Matt Scott: to put in fuel in.

Scott Brady: The, the

Matt Scott: electric motors don’t drop… The rolling resistance is, is of concern- Yeah … with the electric stuff. For sure. Like, I, I bought a Model Y this year as my dishwasher car. It just, it does-

Scott Brady: All the things …

Matt Scott: it does all the things really well, and it’s, uh, for how fast it is, uh, I’m gonna say affordable. Um, faster than my AMG wagon that I replaced it with.

In my opinion, it’s faster. Maybe not top speed or whatever, but, um, you can put, there’s a company that actually does, like, a lift kit and a larger- Yeah, they look cool … a larger tire, and it’s, and it’s [00:17:00] basically, you go on the forums, it’s of basically no consequence to range.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: It’s really, it’s, it’s, it’s interesting.

Scott Brady: And they look cool- Yeah … with that little lift on there. I think if you just do it tastefully just a little bit-

Matt Scott: Yeah, I

Scott Brady: mean- … it just makes it look different …

Matt Scott: it’s just higher than I have to lift my Greyhound, so- … I wouldn’t do it, but, um, we are seeing some cool, you know- Overland-y EVs, you know, those, uh- Oh, yeah,

Scott Brady: for sure.

Matt Scott: The, the, the Hummer truck looks hideous. The Hummer SUV doesn’t look as bad.

Scott Brady: Correct. It looks, it looks a lot more-

Matt Scott: Um …

Scott Brady: stylish and-

Matt Scott: Yeah …

Scott Brady: handsome.

Matt Scott: The interior is still Um, well, it’s for, it seems like it was designed for somebody who liked the H2.

Scott Brady: Mm-hmm.

Matt Scott: Um-

Scott Brady: Heavily inspired …

Matt Scott: yeah, which when you have maybe one of the coolest four-wheel drives ever made to pull inspiration from, hmm, may be a mistake.

Moving on. Uh, but the Rivian stuff is, like, super cool-

Scott Brady: Very

Matt Scott: elegant … I think. Yeah. Really elegant. Um, you know, they are [00:18:00] r- you know, they, they added, I think in ’23, they added a, like a, like a leveling mode for their air suspension.

Scott Brady: Yeah. So the roof tent- So it has camp, has camp mode.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: So it keeps the power outlets on, it levels the vehicle for the roof tent.

So cool. So it’s, you can do a lot with software. And they also launched a dual motor variant. They launched, launched an extended battery pack variant. Yeah. So they’re, they’re continuing to put pressure on innovation- Yeah … which I think is a really good thing. Um, I, you know, I really hope that they’re successful because Rivian, I mean, it is the overland of EVs- 100%

um, because they’ve really made sure that it worked well off-road, and it has a reasonable range, so.

Matt Scott: Yeah. And then, you know, they did start deliveries in ’23 on the Cybertruck.

Scott Brady: Yep.

Matt Scott: Um, I had a really, really early reservation, and actually, like, I think December 30th, mine came up, “Hey, you can, you can select everything, get one of the limited edition first ones.”

I, I decided not to. I think- [00:19:00] I’m just not convinced. I think it’s, it’s, uh-

Scott Brady: Any of the footage that I’ve seen of it off-road, it looks very poor in performance. Yeah. Um, it would be nice to get access to one, so anyone that’s listening that has a Cybertruck, we would love it if you would reach out- Yeah

because, uh, we would love to actually test the thing properly.

Matt Scott: It’s, it’s gotta be a challenge because they have to have low rolling resistance tires. Mm-hmm. And then there’s so much torque- Yeah … that has to be appropriately modulated.

Scott Brady: Right.

Matt Scott: And then there’s this weight. So when you have no traction and a lot of weight to try and get up a hill-

Scott Brady: Mm-hmm

Matt Scott: I think it’s a struggle. Um, the, the car in terms of ground clearance and, uh, uh, all of those kind of metrics is decent. Um-

Scott Brady: But then they, then again, though, the, the Hummer EV doesn’t stru- It does

Matt Scott: way, way better.

Scott Brady: Yeah … and it doesn’t struggle.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: In the areas that I’ve seen- And,

Matt Scott: and is

Scott Brady: that- … the Cybertruck struggle

is

Matt Scott: that because of tire choice maybe?

Scott Brady: I think it’s [00:20:00] probably just, in my experience, what I’ve seen is Tesla is quite insular, which means that they develop innovations that nobody expects and look ama- Yeah … and are amazing, and they’ve been very successful with that. But I think it’s, it can also hurt them- Mm

because it’s very obvious that it wasn’t designed by people who actually-

Matt Scott: Yeah …

Scott Brady: travel in technical terrain, so it doesn’t-

Matt Scott: I think the- … seem to respond properly … the cool thing I’ve learned about Tesla having, well, now driving one almost every day, is there’s constantly these updates over the air- Mm … and they’re free, and you- Yeah

don’t have to go into the dealer.

Scott Brady: And they’ll fix a lot of that stuff- And I, and,

Matt Scott: and- … probably with an update … and I hope. You know, I mean, I, I, I was watching Jay Leno’s Garage, and they had the, Franz, the designer, and the engineer, and I think that, uh, Tesla makes five vehicles now. And I think that all five of them are in the, well, they, they occupy the top five of the most American-made vehicles percentage-wise.

Scott Brady: Oh, wow.

Matt Scott: And I think that that’s [00:21:00] really cool. Um, I do think that, uh- The, the thing that Ford, Chevy, GM, uh, Dodge, like everybody is behind the ball on the EV thing and the common enemy is Tesla.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: But I think it is important to realize that they’re the most innovative car company in the world right now.

They are American. They are American-made.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: Um, the best-selling crossover and SUV in Europe is an American car.

Scott Brady: Yeah. Model Y.

Matt Scott: And that’s kinda

Scott Brady: cool. Yeah, it is cool.

Matt Scott: I think that that’s cool.

Scott Brady: I think it’s important. I think it’s important and I, I hope to see, you know, continued innovation. I think that the Cybertruck has potential, so hopefully we get to drive one at some point soon.

Matt Scott: Love it or hate it styling-wise, but-

Scott Brady: Yeah, I don’t, I wouldn’t even talk about it ’cause it’s so… It’s, it, to me it doesn’t look handsome. It doesn’t look elegant.

Matt Scott: I guess that it would trigger people and that’s, that’s the appeal.

Scott Brady: Yeah. Y- yeah, but that’s the problem, is buying something that is so triggering [00:22:00] to people’s responses, like you probably wouldn’t enjoy driving it after about three weeks because you’d be tired of the conversations.

Matt Scott: People, people do, um- Treat electric cars a little differently on the road

Scott Brady: They

Matt Scott: do … particularly living in a small town.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: The amount of times that I get You know

Scott Brady: Roll,

Matt Scott: coal- Cut up …

Scott Brady: rolled on you

Matt Scott: I want, I want, I want to get, yeah, exactly, or they cut you off, or they just drive really aggressively around you.

Yeah. And particularly it’s guys in older diesel trucks, and I wanna have a license plate for them it’s like, or a sticker, “It’s okay, my other car is a 7.3 Powerstroke.”

Scott Brady: Yeah .

Matt Scott: Like, “I’m one of you. I have a pickup truck on 41-inch military tires, dude.” That’s right. Like

Scott Brady: Exactly.

Matt Scott: Um,

Scott Brady: yeah. Yeah. It’s pretty funny.

Matt Scott: Interesting year for cars, definitely. And interesting to see where it will go. You know, we’ve yet to really see Ford’s response to the whole overlanding thing.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: They- Like the Tremor is really just like the new F by 4 package, the Bronco Raptor- I, I

Scott Brady: like it … is

Matt Scott: the white

Scott Brady: [00:23:00] sunglasses car. The, the, the Tremor’s great.

J- ride quality’s really poor. Yeah. So I hope they work on that. Uh, the new Raptor Type R is really impressive. Yeah, great suspension. It’s an incredible, it’s an incredible piece of engineering, and it’s like, it’s highly effective in- Yeah … most terrain. Um, it’s violently fast. In fact, it encourages higher speed.

Like the thing I liked about the TRX more is that you could enjoy driving the TRX at like reasonable speeds where you don’t kill old people on, on- Yeah … dirt roads. Uh, whereas the Raptor R only got good at like the slaughter families speeds.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: Um, so-

Matt Scott: The, the Raptor has always been really capable. I, I had this conversation with a lot of car guys on, you know, you, you, you sit around, you have a few beers, and if you could only drive one car, and I think for a lot of people, the right answer is the Raptor- Mm

’cause it’s like a sports car.

Scott Brady: Oh, yeah.

Matt Scott: But it can do anything.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: And now it has like a 1,500-pound payload, and-

Scott Brady: Yeah, the payload was up, [00:24:00] and I took it on our most difficult four-wheel drive route where it would fit-

Matt Scott: Yeah …

Scott Brady: of the testing routes that we did, and it, it had no issues, whereas other vehicles, like even the 1500 Sierra EV, was…

Like I had to really drive that truck to get- Yeah … through there, and even take some different lines, ’cause it was high centering on spots that the Raptor, like, did not care.

Matt Scott: Yeah. ‘

Scott Brady: Cause the Raptor’s on 37s, whereas the 1500 is on basically a 33. So- Yeah … it’s a huge difference in tire size.

Matt Scott: Mm.

Scott Brady: Yeah, the Raptor’s, the Ra- the Raptor impressed me, genuinely- Yeah, and I think the

Matt Scott: Raptor R was new in 20-

Scott Brady: It was, ’23

3 as well. Yeah, exactly.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: Well, so let’s, let’s talk about some of the awards for the year. So just recently on Expedition Portal, we announced the Overlander of the Year award, which went to, uh, Malimish, which that’s- Yeah, such

Matt Scott: a sweet family …

Scott Brady: that’s a really sweet family. You [00:25:00] and I interviewed them- Yeah, a while ago

a couple years ago at the Overland Expo, and the reason why they, there are many reasons why they received this award, but th- one of the most important things is that we just wanna continue to reinforce that Overlanding is accessible to families, and this family is traveling around the world, and they have been traveling around the world for a very long time.

For some time. Yeah, for a very long time. So I think it’s just really import- And there are many examples of similar families that are out there doing it. So follow those kinds of accounts. If you have kids and you aspire to do overland travel, or you d- maybe you think it’s gonna be a challenge or there might be some problems, I bet that those folks can really help you overcome those fears.

So I, I would just really, um, encourage families to continue to travel. Yeah. Um, show your kids these places in the world. I’ve never had kids, so, like, when I get to travel with my nephews, to me it’s, like, [00:26:00] such a joy, and I can’t wait to do more of that. Yeah. So it’s, it’s really neat to see families like Mally Mish doing that.

So th- follow them on Instagram. Um- I

Matt Scott: think it’s just mally.mish.

Scott Brady: Yeah, I think that’s what it is. Yeah. And then there’s been some other, some other, uh, travelers that have really impressed us in the last year. Um, you were talking about Richard and Ashley. What were some of the thoughts you had

Matt Scott: around that?

Yeah, Desks to Glory. I mean, one, they’re just, again, incredibly sweet people. But, uh, you know, I think that overlanders get kind of stuck on these routes. You know, Richard and Ashley have already done Pan-American Highway.

Scott Brady: Mm-hmm.

Matt Scott: Um, but, you know, there’s the Pan-American Highway, then there’s kind of, like, the Africa thing, and there’s so many other places in the world.

To me- Overlanding is about culture and experiences-

Scott Brady: Yeah …

Matt Scott: and, you know, camping thrown in and, and a little bit of off-road driving. And they’ve been in Europe for, geez, almost … Have they been there for a year now? They were in UK for some time.

Scott Brady: They were in and out. Yeah. So they went down to South Africa.

Like, they were in [00:27:00] South Africa when I was taking delivery of the Grenadier, so I, yeah, I saw them in South Africa in June. Oh,

Matt Scott: they were down there with XOVERLAND.

Scott Brady: That’s right. And then they also had done some traveling with XOVERLAND in the previous series, in the Nordic series. So they had been traveling in, in Norway, Finland, and to Iceland.

So they had done a bunch of traveling in Europe there, and then I think they took every last moment of their Schengen- Yeah … V- Visa that they could.

Matt Scott: Well, they were in Sp- like I, I, I always try- Portugal and Spain … some of their stuff in Spain.

Scott Brady: Yeah, so

Matt Scott: good. The food is just, like, insane. And they were, like, getting some great camping and some of the, the, the

I don’t, I don’t wanna say that I don’t know anything about Spain, but it actually surprises me how similar Spain is in a lot of ways to Arizona.

Scott Brady: Oh, yeah, for sure.

Matt Scott: Um, like there’s some deserty areas, there’s some mountainy areas. Um-

Scott Brady: It’s the same like Arizona. In the north is the Pyrenees.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: So that’s like our Flagstaff.

Yep. [00:28:00] And then in the south it’s desert. Yeah. There, it’s … And it gets even more so desert in

Matt Scott: Portugal. And it’s cool to see people camping and, um, kind of doing that wild camping thing in- Yeah … in Europe because that’s very uncommon. Yeah. You know, you just don’t really see many, um, North American overlanders doing that stuff.

Yeah. And I think that it’s, uh- It’s okay. Yeah. There’s mu- there’s museums and really good restaurants and stuff.

Scott Brady: Yeah, great wine. G- like, just so many things to exper- Just enjoyable … to exper- Yeah … to experience and enjoy. And Richard and Ashley have done a really good job of finding a way to have a job while they’re traveling full time.

And when I just interviewed Ashley recently about some of her travels, she, she just really focused on they don’t have a return date. Like, they’ve been able to figure that out between the truck that they have and the camper that they have and the, and the jobs that they have. Like, they, you know, Ashley works, you know, almost full time with us, [00:29:00] and she’s one of the co-hosts of the podcast.

So between the two of them- Yeah … they’ve found a way to stay busy that allows them to stay on the road, which is very cool.

Matt Scott: Yeah. And they’re just good people.

Scott Brady: Amazing people. And then I was also super impressed by, um, two ladies that are riding a motorcycle down West Africa. Uh, they did the entire West African route, Itchy Boots, and, like, they got in it.

I mean, the, their videos are raw and inspiring and-

Matt Scott: West Africa’s tough …

Scott Brady: it is tough, and, uh, y- just check them out. I mean, really neat stories and, and, and visuals that they’ve captured of their experience, a very raw, genuine travel experience that they’ve had. I’m just really impressed by that, and it, you know, inspires me-

Matt Scott: Yeah

Scott Brady: too, so it’s neat to see. Man,

Matt Scott: bike down West Africa would be, uh, hard.

Scott Brady: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was just, it’s just very [00:30:00] cool.

Matt Scott: I’ve become way too soft for

Scott Brady: that. Yeah, but you could, you could do it if you, if you wanted to, and not everybody has to, but it was, for me, it was neat to see them accomplish that, uh, and it definitely makes me think of motorcycle West Africa at some point.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: Yeah, you know, while I’m, you know, still able to do that, so. And then let’s talk a little bit about the 2023 four-wheel drive vehicle of the year. So the- when we talk about a vehicle of the year award, it is always gonna go to, um, something that was newly launched within the calendar year. Um, otherwise you just end up, you could end up, like years past, you’d end up with a 200 series every year – Yeah

or something, which is kind of boring. Um, but there’s a lot of competition now, and there’s no question in my mind, especially with the time that I’ve had with it, that, uh, the 2023 Overland Vehicle of the Year is the [00:31:00] Grenadier.

Matt Scott: Mm.

Scott Brady: And it’s available internationally. It was designed, um, at the request of, you know, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who is an overlander just like the rest of us.

Matt Scott: Does, he does it.

Scott Brady: He does the things, rides motorcycles across Africa and everything else, and he wanted to build basically the vehicle that he felt like he lost, which was the Defender. Um, he wanted to build something that he thought was better even than that, and in many ways it is. So the best way that I can describe, uh, the Grenadier after now 20,000 kilometers in the vehicle in Europe and in the United States and in Africa now, is that if you, if you took a G-Wagon and a Defender and a 70 series Land Cruiser and they all kind of had a love child, you’d end up, you’d end up with the Grenadier, ’cause it does have all of the best of those things- And the thing that was a big unknown for us [00:32:00] was if the vehicle was gonna be reliable.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: C- ’cause something that looks like a Defender makes you immediately recoil and think, “Is it going to be as reliable as a Defender?”

Matt Scott: And as English.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: S- But they, they brought in some Germans too.

Scott Brady: That’s right. So they, they, they commissioned the Austrians to design the thing- Oh yeah, Austrians … in Gr- in, in Graz.

So that’s the same group that designed the G-Wagen and des- des- designed the recent updates to the G-Wagen. Bunch of other vehicles, including military vehicles.

Matt Scott: Fiat Panda 4×4.

Scott Brady: There you go, which is well-known and regarded. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, so a highly capable engineering team, obviously designed in the UK. Uh, so it looks great, and it’s got-

Matt Scott: Yeah

Scott Brady: a great interior …

Matt Scott: a yacht designer.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: So not a traditional automotive designer. Um, and there’s so much little- And a great interior … little thoughtful things. I like the little toot horn.

Scott Brady: Yeah. I use it all the time in Africa. Yeah. ‘Cause y- a lot of times you’re just letting people know [00:33:00] that you’re there or you, you know, somebody’s kind of wavering on the street.

It’s a fairly quiet car, so it’s nice to kinda let people know that you’re there, so I use the toot all the time. And then, because it has the toot horn, the regular horn is much louder.

Matt Scott: Mm.

Scott Brady: So you kinda get the best of both. Okay. It’s like- Yeah, yeah … I really need you to know that I’m here, or just it’s like a very- Hey

respectful, gentle, like- Hey, hey. Yeah, exact- Yeah … exactly. So for the 2023 Overland Vehicle of the Year, it goes to the Grenadier. They’re delivering in the United States now. I’ve got a bunch of friends that have already taken delivery of them. Um, we’ve been- Yeah,

Matt Scott: it was like e- end of December- … it was like, like 10 people I know got theirs.

Yeah. And I was a little … I had a little FOMO.

Scott Brady: Yeah, ’cause you had one on order.

Matt Scott: I did.

Scott Brady: Yeah. I did, but- But you’d have, you have pl- Matt has plenty of cars, so- Yeah … I can see why you don’t. So th- there really wasn’t anything that was a close second, because the Grenadier is so significant. Mm. It’s the, it’s, [00:34:00] it’s the only vehicle that we g- get in North America that was made specifically for us.

Like, it’s literally … It’s not meant even for, like, a soccer mom, although I’m sure there are plenty of soccer moms that … Like, the car was literally made to drive around the world, so. I,

Matt Scott: I actually think there was a close second, the, the new 911 Dakar.

Scott Brady: Yeah, okay, so tell me about that.

Matt Scott: Oh, I, I think it’s based on, like, a GTS, but it’s this, basically it’s a lifted 911.

And this whole Safari 911 thing has been … I mean, it dates back to rallying these things in the ’60s. Oh, yeah, big time. You know, and kind of building a 1960s rally 911 as well. And, uh, this Dakar, I mean, it has, like, proper recovery points in the front, an all-terrain tire. I have a bunch of friends that, that also bought those.

And, uh- They’re beating the, they’re beating the heck out of them. Really? And they’re just having fun with them and-

Scott Brady: Wow …

Matt Scott: you know, they, they have a roof rack with, like, some jerry cans on top and some recovery boards, and it’s, uh- Yeah … s- full, full skid plates. This is not a serious answer. I’m just-

Scott Brady: [00:35:00] Why not, though?

Matt Scott: But-

Scott Brady: Like, how cool is that?

Matt Scott: But if there was a car right now, new, anything on the market that I could get to, you know- To drive around the world? … proverbial drive south-

Scott Brady: Yeah …

Matt Scott: oh, oh boy, it would be that one.

Scott Brady: Well, there you go.

Matt Scott: So.

Scott Brady: And I would, I would take the Grenadier- Yeah. … and I would just put the, I would put the same few modifications that I did- Yeah

to the one in Africa and just start heading south, ’cause it- it’s just well-suited for it. Yeah. You know, I’ve, I’ve come to like the car. It surprised me. You know, I, I was hoping that it would be great, and it is great. There are very few issues that I’ve f- I’ve come across with it. You know, even the little hump, um, on the right-hand drives that…

Well, I shouldn’t say a little hump. There’s a big hump on the right-hand drive models, um, like the dead pedal. Um, and you get used to that. Like, I don’t even notice it anymore. Yeah,

Matt Scott: so what’s the deal with that? So, I mean, is it a big dead pedal, or is that for the transmission tunnel or-

Scott Brady: Well, there’s an exhaust pipe- Okay

that runs through there. Um, it’s- So

Matt Scott: they had preference to left-hand drive? [00:36:00]

Scott Brady: Yeah, so if you get a left-hand drive one, the dead pedal size is much smaller.

Matt Scott: Okay.

Scott Brady: Um, and it’s, doesn’t feel as intrusive. It, it does seem that people who are new to the vehicle notice it-

Matt Scott: Yeah …

Scott Brady: a lot. Um, but again, after 20,000 kilometers, I don’t notice it at all anymore.

Matt Scott: Yeah. Yeah. But- Maybe it’s ’cause of the BMW drivetrain. That’s probably just- Mm … being a straight six. I think- Exhaust manifold has to be on the right side … I think

Scott Brady: that’s exactly what it is. And- S- already people are trimming out a lot of this plastic flooring and insulation, and that’s, it’s taking a lot of the size of that thing out of there.

The downside to that is then you don’t have those kind of washout floors. Mm. Um, so, you know, the dead pedal thing is things that, something that’s, people are talking about. But they’ve had a bunch of software updates. Um, and again, I’ve not had any mechanical issues. Yeah. I’ve had no fa- no failures with the vehicle.

That’s good to

Matt Scott: know, ’cause that’s kind of like-

Scott Brady: And mine is number 372, I believe, so- Yeah,

Matt Scott: you’re, you’re still pre-production, I mean-

Scott Brady: Yeah. They, [00:37:00] they call it- Kinda … production, but it’s like- Okay … it was, they were still hand-building these things at that point.

Matt Scott: Interesting.

Scott Brady: But it is a fully homologated UK registerable- Yeah

street-legal vehicle.

Matt Scott: Yeah, I mean, I mean, to be balanced on the thing, that’s, that, that’s my, still my biggest concern, is I think if you live in a major city, uh, they have a dealership network.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: But there’s … I know, and I know that they’re working on it, but, you know, here in Prescott, our closest dealer was in Southern California.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: And-

Scott Brady: Or in Utah or in-

Matt Scott: In Utah or something. Yeah. Denver maybe. Um, just a, a considerable distance. Like having owned vehicles that I can only- Yeah … get serviced in, you know, Scottsdale, which is only an hour and a half away, um, that’s, that’s even a pain. Well,

Scott Brady: that’s, that’s really important to, to note, and the only thing I can say to that is that it does appear that they’re actively developing the network.

Yeah. Yeah. So as long as they continue to actively develop the network, I think they’ll have [00:38:00] happy customers. If that- Yeah … slows down, I think that they’ll have more challenges. Mm. So

Matt Scott: yeah. Yeah. I mean, if I’m ever in a position where I don’t have to tow I think a Grenadier would be in my future

Scott Brady: Yeah, I mean, it’s, it’s just really work- It’s, they call it Built for Africa.

I mean, that- Yeah … that’s one of their taglines, and boy, that is absolutely true now that I’ve driven it across-

Matt Scott: Yeah …

Scott Brady: Africa, so

Matt Scott: Super cool.

Scott Brady: Yeah. Yeah. No,

Matt Scott: so- How’s the, how’s the suspension on it?

Scott Brady: I like it because it’s not, if you think about, you and I have spent a lot of time in G-Wagons. Yeah. So G-Wagons have these leading and trailing arm suspension systems, and if, if they are kind of on the road or just on a corrugated road, they’re fine.

Yeah. But when you really get into, uh, more technical terrain or a lot of, of head toss, the advantage of this five-link is pretty significant. So think of it like a heavy duty Jeep Wrangler suspension underneath. Okay. So it’s five-link long travel. Uh, you know, it has a huge sway bar up front. Somebody’s gonna address that.

Somebody will [00:39:00] come up with a disconnect. Yeah. Um, and then it’s really gonna get a lot of flex. Hmm. Um, so, and the fact that the vehicle is also very wide, it’s wider than a G-Wagon, like the G-Wagon that you owned, it’s wider than that car. Hmm. So it’s actually very s- like low and stable. Interesting. So you don’t, you just won’t end up-

Matt Scott: It’d be cool to kind of see the Grenadier next to an older G.

Scott Brady: They’re

Matt Scott: big- ‘Cause Gs aren’t as big as people think.

Scott Brady: That’s right. That’s right.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: Yeah, these, these are much bigger cars. I, I would call it a mid-size, actually.

Matt Scott: Hmm.

Scott Brady: Um, you know, it’s along the lines of, like, if you’ve sat in a 200 series, I mean, it’s a big- Okay … it’s a big car. Hmm. Which a lot of pe- It’s hard to see that because when you look at it, you see the form factor of, of an early Land Rover.

Yeah. So you think it’s gonna be that size, but it’s actually much bigger. Hmm. The center console’s big and, you know, there’s plenty of room to set your arm on the win- you know, on the door frame and everything like that. So it’s, it’s a lot more comfortable, for sure. All right, so that’s our, our 2023 Vehicle of the Year.

So let’s talk about Moto [00:40:00] of the Year, and this one is interesting because the, the new BMW is just getting tested now, but they’re not delivering the motorcycle yet.

Matt Scott: Yeah. The 1300.

Scott Brady: The, the 1300. A little bit lighter, a little bit more powerful. Um- It’s

Matt Scott: a lot of power. Yeah. Like, you can get a lot of power out of them.

Scott Brady: Yeah. So that’s an interest- I don’t know why that’s become a thing in the motorcycle space. I think it’s actually a little bit foolish-

Matt Scott: Numbers …

Scott Brady: to go after the power thing. Uh, I do not see that as being an advantage. Um, you know, most of these adventure bikes i- once you go into a, an enduro or enduro pro mode, they throttle the, the bike back to 100 horsepower or so- Yeah, you j-

’cause it’s uncontrollable … you just don’t need it. It’s uncontrollable at the higher s- higher horsepower num- numbers, which is why I really like this new segment of midsize adventure bikes that are coming out. And for me, the one that peop- they’re, people are buying them and they’re using them and they’re not having [00:41:00] trouble with them, is this new Ducati DesertX.

They

Matt Scott: look really good.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: Yeah, I mean, I, I’m, I’m just a big fan of that form factor. Like, I have a, I have a KTM factory Dakar bike and it’s from the KTM junior team, and, uh, I love it ’cause it’s just so, like, fit for purpose. Mm-hmm. And it, you know, you have the multiple tanks, you have the saddle tanks that keeps the weight down low.

You have all the suspension travel, this upright seating position. Like, I was al- We, we were both big fans of the KTM 950.

Scott Brady: Right.

Matt Scott: Great bike.

Scott Brady: They’re just- Yeah, there’s still one-

Matt Scott: Yeah, they’re just- … 900 out … they’re getting, they’re just a little long in the tooth.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: You know, they get… The, the dirty secret on those things is they get, like, 30 miles to the gallon-

Scott Brady: Yeah

Matt Scott: which is actually not that great for a motorcycle.

Scott Brady: It’s really bad,

Matt Scott: actually. And they’re really, really… I mean, they’re a race bike, right?

Scott Brady: Off-road, I was lucky to get 150 miles out of six gallons.

Matt Scott: Yeah. It’s, it’s, it’s a challenge. But this new Ducati has all of that form factor. Yeah. And where, like, the, the Dakar bike, even though that’s, like, the sexy poster child thing, it’s not great for long-term.

It’s a little [00:42:00] bit too light, you know, it’s, it’s just under 300 pounds and it, um, just gets blown around a little bit. Yeah,

Scott Brady: sure.

Matt Scott: Like, you want a little bit of heft. You, you don’t want a really strung out motor, and these mid-weight bikes, you have to also consider that engines have become a lot more efficient and they’ve become a lot more powerful-

Scott Brady: Yes

Matt Scott: for the size of displacement.

Scott Brady: Correct.

Matt Scott: So you can have, I believe that’s a seven-

Scott Brady: It’s about, right at about 800

Matt Scott: ccs, yeah. 800 ccs, yeah, and incredibly powerful.

Scott Brady: Yep.

Matt Scott: Probably puts out, you know, liter bike or more performance and- Oh

Scott Brady: yeah, for sure …

Matt Scott: and less weight and- Yeah,

Scott Brady: for sure …

Matt Scott: and they’re, they’re also just not as complicated.

Like, a lot of these, you know, you look at the 1300, now you’re getting into… There, there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of stuff going on with that bike or the 1250 and, um, I, I think that this, that Ducati just, like- knocked it out of the park with this one

Scott Brady: Well, and it’s also got, it’s also got the, um, the additional, the auxiliary tank that you can put [00:43:00] where the rear pillion seat goes.

Yeah. So you can end up with about eight gallons of fuel- Which is huge … onboard. So, um- Yeah, so the, the DesertX is 930cc. Okay So-

Matt Scott: So that’s actually still a pretty big motor, but…

Scott Brady: But again, the, the, like the weight is low. I mean, it, it makes, makes plenty of power. Makes 112 horsepower. Yeah. So it’s plenty of power.

And, and I really like it off-road. I, I rode it in, in Colorado last year, and I was really impressed- Mm … with the performance off-road, and I’m about to go ride it in Morocco, so I’ll be-

Matt Scott: Yeah …

Scott Brady: heading to Africa and using the thing there.

Matt Scott: It’s just, I mean, that’s gonna be such a cool place to bring that bike, ’cause again, it’s just like you…

It, it looks like a rally bike.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: And there’s a reason- And it

Scott Brady: feels like a rally bike.

Matt Scott: Yeah, and there’s a reason why the rally bikes, you know, th- that, that style and the ergonomics of that transition so well to adventure riding. They really do. ‘Cause that’s what these guys are doing, but at a, at a, at a competitive level.

Scott Brady: That’s [00:44:00] right.

Matt Scott: Yeah. Super cool.

Scott Brady: Yeah, so DesertX gets our 2023 Adventure Motorcycle of the Year. Who knows what 2024 will ho- hold. Yeah. There’s a lot of new stuff coming out, uh, that I think will be really interesting on the adventure bike space as well. And

Matt Scott: people are really attacking KTM. Like-

Scott Brady: They

Matt Scott: are

KTM was, like, really on top for a while.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: I’m gonna say in the era of, like, the 1090, 1190.

Scott Brady: Oh, yeah, for sure.

Matt Scott: And now you have Triumph that’s come out with kinda something similar to the DesertX.

Scott Brady: Mm-hmm.

Matt Scott: You’ve got Ducati coming out with stuff. Like, it’s, it’s an interesting space, and-

Scott Brady: Triumph has got a, a bunch of models, you know.

Yeah. They’ve got all these Rally Pros and, and the, the Triumph bikes are actually really great. Like, I really- It, it’s, it’s interesting … I like them better than the BMWs right now.

Matt Scott: I, I, I also kinda think that there’s less and less interest in the motorcycle space generally. Mm. Like, I, I’ve kinda noticed that at least with my group of, of friends, and, and I talk to people about it on how…

I mean, bikes are just a [00:45:00] lot more work. Mm. And cars are so good these days. Yeah. Like, it used to be traveling on a bike was so much cheaper, and I don’t know if that’s necessarily the case anymore. You’re more reliant on it

Scott Brady: though, so- Your friend group’s just gotten a little older.

Matt Scott: Yeah, maybe that’s what’s happening.

Oh. Oh.

Scott Brady: Yeah. ‘Cause, uh, I mean, adventure bikes are still a growing segment within motorcycle, one of the few growing segments within motorcycle. I

Matt Scott: just, like, I never see anybody other than people my dad’s age on motorcycles these days. Mm-mm. I also live in a retirement town. That may have something to do with it.

Scott Brady: Yeah, and I think you’re right overall. I think that, I think that a lot of, of people just aren’t getting out as much as- Yeah … they used to, and I think it’s because, you know, all of, not to get on a soapbox, but, like, the social media platforms are really good at commanding people’s attention. Mm. And so people have, they’ve kind of lost the connection with actually doing the things.

Yeah. You know, I was thinking about it this last year is, [00:46:00] you know, talking about traveling isn’t traveling. Mm. You know, buying stuff to put on your vehicle to travel isn’t traveling. Um, you know, going on a forum and talking about travel or, or going on Instagram and following travelers isn’t traveling.

Like, all of those things, they give us this, this, this- Connection to it … feeling- Yeah … of travel and the excitement, and maybe, like, the possibility that travel will happen, and all the excitement that comes from that. But the real reward in life comes from the actual doing of the things. We have to do the things- Definitely

in order to learn, in order to grow, in order to actually have the experiences that result in memories. So, like, we’re gonna forget about all the things that we saw on Instagram, but when we actually get out on that motorcycle, no matter what it is, a KLR, Desert X, whatever it may be, when we get out and we actually have the experience, and we’re in the dust, and we’re picking the bike up, and we’re cold or we’re hot or whatever- Yeah

like, that’s the stuff you never forget.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: So soapbox. [00:47:00] So let’s talk about new stuff coming in 2024 that we’re super excited about.

Matt Scott: Mm, yeah. Land Cruiser.

Scott Brady: Yeah. I’m excited about that The new Land Cruiser, the new GX 550. Mm. Very excited about both of those vehicles. The

Matt Scott: pricing came out on the, on the, the Overtrail, and it’s a little more expensive than I…

I mean, it’s a Lexus.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: And inflation and all the stuff that’s going on. It’s actually made me more interested in where the 250 is gonna sit.

Scott Brady: Yeah. ‘

Matt Scott: Cause I think that that’s indicated around, like, high 40s, low 50s.

Scott Brady: Uh-huh, yeah. And- It has a less expensive drivetrain. Yeah Little lower content overall. You know, what I hope happens is, is that

Like, what are they gonna do with the 4Runner? That’s the big question. Mm. Like, when that Land Cruiser comes out, ’cause it, it is the replacement for the 4Runner, in my mind.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: You know, just like the, the- I

Matt Scott: mean, it’s, in theory it’s the same chassis, right? It’s, it’s, you know- That’s right … the, the 4Runner was on a Prado 150.

Scott Brady: That’s right.

Matt Scott: This is a Prado 250 that does not have Prado badging [00:48:00] in the US.

Scott Brady: Exactly.

Matt Scott: So.

Scott Brady: So that’ll be really interesting to see what happens there. I mean, it kinda makes me remember the, you know, the launch of the Defender. Like, the new Defender is the best Discovery that Land Rover has ever made. Yeah.

We didn’t actually get a Defender. We got a great version of a Discovery, and people make the mistake of expecting it to be a classic Defender, and it’s not. Yeah. So, um, I think it’s the same thing with- With the 4Runner, my fear is just like i- are they gonna make it some mild hybrid, like, like crossover? I just don’t

Like, let it, let it go. Like, let it go. You know? Do not- Yeah … don’t like, don’t-

Matt Scott: It’s, it’s an interesting- …

Scott Brady: Pathfinder the thing, please.

Matt Scott: It’s an interesting conversation because they, they could take it, the removable hardtop-

Scott Brady: Yes …

Matt Scott: 4Runner Jeep kinda competitor.

Scott Brady: Could you imagine?

Matt Scott: That would be super cool. Um, they could also l- you know, they [00:49:00] could, and this would be the bad thing, is they could look at who actually buys 4Runners.

They sell a lot of them, right? And I think that-

Scott Brady: Qu- yeah, quarter million 4Runners.

Matt Scott: Yeah. They’re, they’re, they’re, I think, if I’m gonna stereotype, they’re somebody that wants a little bit more than a crossover these days. Right. They want something that’s a little trucky feeling.

Scott Brady: Right.

Matt Scott: They want something that’s durable and reliable.

And unfortunately, like, a lot of that kinda overlaps with crossover these days. Um, does it, does the, does the person who’s actually, the bulk of the people who are actually buying a 4Runner, do they benefit from a Land Cruiser body on frame chassis? Probably not.

Scott Brady: Yeah, I don’t know. Um, I think, I th- I mean, a lot of the people that I know that own 4Runners, they, they appreciate the authentic nature of the car.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: Um, they’re not, they’re smart people that aren’t gonna be swayed by some marketing gimmick.

Matt Scott: Mm.

Scott Brady: You know, putting a TRD Pro [00:50:00] badge on a Highlander doesn’t make it an o- an overland vehicle. Yeah. So.

Matt Scott: Yeah. It’s, it’s, it’s interesting ’cause there’s, there’s just, like, 4Runner people out there.

Scott Brady: Oh, yeah.

Matt Scott: You know?

They’re, they’re kind of a-

Scott Brady: They tend to be really good folks. Yeah. Like, overall. The, like there’s, there’s, like, not the douchey category of 4Runner- Yeah … owner.

Matt Scott: Yeah. It, it’ll be interesting to see. Um, you know.

Scott Brady: And it’s super, it’s a super popular vehicle in our space.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: I mean, we just gave it the number one on our top 10 list, so.

Matt Scott: It’s still a great choice. I mean, it is so outdated. Like-

Scott Brady: Yeah, five-speed automatic still, yeah.

Matt Scott: I mean, like, I remember when five-speed was like, “Whoa, it’s got a five-speed.” Um, but you know, now it’s just like

Scott Brady: It’s because they could.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: It’s because they continued to sell them in, like, massive numbers.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: And I think it’s because it’s a good car for a lot of people. Yeah. I really do. So, all right. Um.

Matt Scott: Quartermaster is coming out. [00:51:00] Yes, that’s right. And that’s kinda cool. So, uh, if you don’t know what the Quartermaster is, it’s, it’s from Ineos. It’s… I mean, it’s gonna be the Grenadier Quartermaster, I believe, and it’s kind of a, you know, a, of similar ilk to, like, a Gladiator.

Yeah. Like what the Wrangler- Gladiator is to Wrangler, this will- the Quartermaster will be to the-

Scott Brady: Yep …

Matt Scott: Gladiator. Um, on paper it looks really good.

Scott Brady: Yeah, payload numbers look good. Yeah. Could be pushing up close to 2,000 pounds of payload.

Matt Scott: Yeah. Very much that kind of Defender 130 vibe. Yeah. Like, down to the fact that…

My biggest gripe with the, with the 130 was that it didn’t have a spare tire, like, either mounted underneath or on the back or something, and it just takes up… You wanna put a camper in it-

Scott Brady: Sure …

Matt Scott: where does your tire go?

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: You wanna put a bunch of stuff in the bed, where does the tire go?

Scott Brady: Sure.

Matt Scott: Um, that’s my only gripe with the Quartermaster so far, but, um, it looks really [00:52:00] cool.

Scott Brady: It does. I think it’s got a lot of potential. It’s probably one of the vehicles that I’m most interested in- Yeah … ’cause I still haven’t decided what I want my next project to be, ’cause I’m still spending a lot of time in Africa. So I don’t n- I don’t really need a- Yeah … project car yet, but, like, I want to have a project car for 2024, so it’s, it’s definitely, I’m thinking, you know, Quartermaster, Gladiator.

I just don’t know yet.

Matt Scott: Yeah, you’ve been talking about the Gladiator a lot. Yeah. I mean, the Quartermaster- There’s a lot- … is more you, for sure.

Scott Brady: It- I agree. I agree. There’s something about a Gladiator with a normally aspirated V6 and a six-speed manual transmission- Yeah, that is cool … that has a lot of appeal to me.

It would probably be the last manual transmission car I’ll ever be able to buy. So there’s something about me that really likes the idea of… And y- if you spec it out, like, you can get a Gladiator with a V6, and a manual transmission, and a hard top. Still has a Dana 44 axle in the rear, a lighter duty Dana 44 in the [00:53:00] front compared to a Rubicon, but 1,700 pounds of payload, and they’re, like, 42, 43 grand.

Like, that-

Matt Scott: And they’re discounting the heck out of them right now.

Scott Brady: It’s crazy numbers. It’s, like, really interesting solution, I think.

Matt Scott: It’s one of the cars I’ve kept the longest, was the Gladiator. Um, they’re phenomenal off-road. You put- That’s

Scott Brady: my thought …

Matt Scott: you put a 37-inch tire on

Scott Brady: that- It’s gonna meet my expectations off road

Matt Scott: and there, there are so many widgets and parts available for them. Yeah. So anything you wanna do, you can do to it.

Scott Brady: Yep.

Matt Scott: Um, you know, m- my, my problem with the Gladiator is, you know, I, uh- I, I, I wanna be, you know, a little unique snowflake, and there’s just so many of them

Scott Brady: There are, there are, especially in Prescott.

They’re like- Oh … on every, every corner. So

Matt Scott: many. For sure. It’s like, it’s like sell your house in Southern California-

Scott Brady: Yeah, pay cash for something in Prescott- Pay cash for something … and buy a Gladiator

Matt Scott: Then trade your Mercedes in to the Jeep dealer.

Scott Brady: So true.

Matt Scott: Or they get- That’s so true … or they get long bed duallys and they try and park on the [00:54:00] square.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: That’s annoying.

Scott Brady: Yeah, it is. That’s why they give a lot of tickets out on the square. Yeah. All right, so let’s talk about what we kind of see as being the, the 2023 overland product of the year. Um, it’s really easy to kind of want to give it to something, like, for example, like the Dometic water system is really impressive.

Um, it’s, it’s one of the best new-

Matt Scott: Yeah, it’s thought- well thought out …

Scott Brady: new, new product releases that I’ve seen in a long time. But the game changer for overlanding in 2023 was Starlink going mobile They have mobile units, they have low-profile units now. Um, Matt’s been using a high-performance mobile unit- Oh

on his EarthRoamer with great success. It’s so

Matt Scott: good. So- I, I get faster internet when I travel than I do at home.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: I mean, we can… I, I’m gonna say 100 megabytes a second going down the road-

Scott Brady: Yeah …

Matt Scott: you know, at, well, 68 mile an hour ’cause that’s as fast as the tires are rated for. [00:55:00] Um, it, and it just works so good, like…

And, and I’ve really noticed from the start of the year to the end of the year, more satellites are going up.

Scott Brady: Yep.

Matt Scott: And I mean, even using it in, like, trees and, like, kinda wooded areas, like, you, you, you can point it through a forest and it’s, maybe it’s not gonna be 100% connected, but it’s enough.

Scott Brady: It gets better and better.

And then, so there’s a, there’s a, a domestic mobile plan which is at about 80 bucks a month or so. Oh, that’s- Oh, no, I’m sorry, $120 a month, excuse me. And then there is a global mobile plan, which means it works everywhere that Starlinks work, Star- Starlink has a signal. Mm-hmm. And, uh, which doesn’t mean that you can legally use it in those countries.

It’s really important to know the difference. Yeah. So, um, and that is $150 a month, and that’s what I’ve been using in Africa. And, you know, [00:56:00] Starlink is now sold in Mozambique. It’s sold in Eswatini. It’s sold in, uh, Tanzania. It’s sold in Kenya. Mm-hmm. It’s, it, like, it’s available. It’s a big deal. It’s sold in, in, in Zambia.

Like, you can get Starlink now in Africa, and it’s legal to use it. So, you know, there’s obviously some concerns that have been voiced around, like, how do you take it over the borders? It’s, it’s legal to use it.

Matt Scott: Mm-hmm.

Scott Brady: Like, they’re sold in the country. They’re not a controlled item. Now, when I… I can’t take it into Ethiopia, so I brought it back with me.

So, like, there are countries where you can’t take it in legally, and I didn’t want To risk it. So- Yeah … I’m not gonna have it for this next leg. But, um, most of Africa, y- you, you can’t buy it in South Africa, but it’s not a controlled item in South Africa, so you can, you can use it in South Africa too- Mm-hmm

with great success. So Namibia, Botswana.

Matt Scott: I-

Scott Brady: it,

Matt Scott: it just works. [00:57:00] Like I, I, I keep having, like, internet outages at my house, and I just wanna, I just wanna, like, cut the cord-

Scott Brady: Yeah …

Matt Scott: and-

Scott Brady: Go full Starlink …

Matt Scott: you know?

Scott Brady: That’s what my dad has on the ranch out there. Really? Yeah. He runs Starlink 24/7, and just, it, it has never not worked.

Matt Scott: That’s awesome.

Scott Brady: Yeah. It’s so easy. Yeah. So.

Matt Scott: Yeah. You know, we, we were talking about this earlier, you know, there are some downsides to Starlink.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: You know? Um, and it’s not necessarily related to performance or… And, ’cause I don’t even think the cost is that much, honestly. I had, like, a crazy 5G, uh, Cradlepoint thing in the EarthRoamer before the Starlink, and the data plan that you need for that was the same price.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: You know? It’s expensive.

Scott Brady: And

Matt Scott: it barely worked. Um- You have to be judicious with your use because you can… Y- you have to remember that we do this to a degree to get away, [00:58:00] and we do it to experience places. You know, I, I-

Scott Brady: Yeah, the always on thing is tough.

Matt Scott: Yeah. I, I hardwired mine, and I did hardwire it with a switch.

And, uh, it’s very easy for me to press that switch. And as I switch to lithium batteries and energy is just no longer a concern, it’s been left on more- Yeah … and more and more. And I find myself in these beautiful places, you know, w- like a month or so ago, we were at Muley Point in, in, in Utah. It’s a beautiful…

One of… Just one of the most spectacular places on the planet that you can camp.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: Um, and I’m sitting there on my phone, and my wife, Laura, is sitting there on her phone, and we’re not talking. You know? We’re just absorbed in our phones because, you know, when you, when you’re just in normal day-to-day life, like- I [00:59:00] think everybody’s pretty good.

I mean, you’re pretty good. I’m not the worst, but people are just absorbed on their phones. Yeah. Like, I mean, they’re… Your, your brain doesn’t stand a chance against, like, trillion-dollar company psychologists- Yeah.

Scott Brady: That’s right …

Matt Scott: trying to get your attention.

Scott Brady: Right.

Matt Scott: And you, you have to just turn it off. You know, uh, there, there’s times w- previously when I just had the regular Starlink and I’d had to put it out and, and set it up, and I didn’t have lithium batteries, so, like, I had to turn it off at night.

Right. And I actually then disconnected.

Scott Brady: And you have better sleep and everything else. Yeah.

Matt Scott: Where I’m finding now, like, no matter where I’m at, it just works, and I’m always connected.

Scott Brady: Yep.

Matt Scott: You can’t just, like- Disappear into the, into the woods, so to speak, and shut off. You, you then, you now have to have the control of, and, and, and the cognizance to turn the dang thing off.

Scott Brady: Yeah, like if you work remotely, have office [01:00:00] hours.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: You know, you s- you fire the- ‘

Matt Scott: Cause your phone’s gonna ring. That’s the thing, is like all, uh, these days, everything’s voiceover IP- Yeah, right … or whatever, right? So you’re in the middle of nowhere, your phone rings, your text messages come in. I mean, it is j- it is seamless-

Scott Brady: Yeah

Matt Scott: to being in the real world.

Scott Brady: And it was even the same in Africa. Now it was, it was capped at 10 megabits a second, but still, like 10 megabits going down, down the road in the middle of Africa, dodging potholes with like perfect broadband internet.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: You know? So it, it was really important for me to shut it off, and I think it was one of the things that I did in 2023 that I most, that I learned the most from, was I spent about eight weeks without a smartphone.

Yeah. I, I used what was called a light phone, and the light phone, it was, it had a lot of challenges, like particularly around travel. It just doesn’t work. You can’t hail an Uber and it doesn’t work- Yeah … internationally. So, um, but what I did do is I took all of the social media apps off of my [01:01:00] phone.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: So- I

Matt Scott: did that for a while. That’s the first thing I,

Scott Brady: I, I’m really grateful that I did that. I still am on social media, but I go onto an iPad Mini, actually I happen to have it right here. Yeah. Uh, and that’s where I have Instagram and everything else, but I, I only go on it at certain times in the day.

Matt Scott: It, it is so easy, remember, to, to delete these apps.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: They don’t want you to delete them, but they really want you to- Yeah … to bring them back on your phone.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: And I don’t know, like when I get stressed with business- Yeah … or life or whatever, first thing I do is I, I delete the Instagram app. Yeah. ‘Cause it immediately gives me back hour,

Scott Brady: two hours a

Matt Scott: day.

A bunch of time. That’s a lot of time.

Scott Brady: Well, and I mean, they say that the average American’s on their phone for five and a half hours a day.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: Like think about that.

Matt Scott: People don’t know how to be

Scott Brady: by themselves anymore. That’s a whole lot of life. That’s a whole lot of life that’s gone. Yeah.

Matt Scott: I, I don’t know how to be.

I don’t.

Scott Brady: Yeah. A couple soap boxes today. I like that.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: All right. So, um- Well, it’s

Matt Scott: a year in review.

Scott Brady: Yeah, exactly. So then what, what were some of your [01:02:00] favorite products from the year?

Matt Scott: Hmm. I bought a really cool watch that I like. Yeah? And it’s, it’s, it’s maybe a little bit obscure. It’s not… I’ve kinda, I’m not saying I’m tired of like the, you know, like there’s these kind of grail watches, like the, you know, the Rolexes- Mm-hmm

and the Omegas and that kind of stuff. Like- S- everybody, I’m not saying everybody has them, you know, they’re i- it’s a place of privilege to have one of these things, but I wouldn’t say that they’re unique. When y- when you find out that they make tens of millions of Rolexes a year-

Scott Brady: Yeah …

Matt Scott: it, it, um, like I said, I like to be a little snowflake.

So I’ve gotten really into, into classic and kind of, uh, what maybe they call them, uh, uh, vintage modern Porsche design watches. Yeah. ‘Cause I’m a Porsche geek. Anybody that listens to this knows that I am. Um, but there’s this watch called the Compass Uhr, and it’s basically a watch that, um- [01:03:00] You know, Porsche Design developed, um, shortly after, uh, kinda Porsche and Porsche Design went their own ways and, and they weren’t, the Porsche family wasn’t working for the company anymore.

Um, it was designed for hunters, and it has a, an actual compass in the bottom, and it has a signaling mirror, and it actually folds up.

Scott Brady: Oh, yeah.

Matt Scott: And it’s really, really cool. Um, the… I have an original one and I have a reissue. I wear the reissue ’cause it’s all titanium. The original ones are made of, like, Delrin, and they’re pretty fragile.

Um, but you can take the compass out, you can put it on a map, and when you’re just kinda like… It, to me, it’s like this analog Garmin watch, you know? Yeah, yeah. I know you really like your Garmin watch. I do,

Scott Brady: yeah.

Matt Scott: I mean, I, I think they’re great watches, too. I have one. Um, but it, it’s just, like, me and a watch, you know, I like sports cars and I like exploring, and- Yeah

it’s got the watch and the little signaling mirror. I mean, even though I just, like, usually use the mirror to make sure I don’t have, like, chocolate on my face. But it’s actually incredibly useful. Um, so that was, [01:04:00] that was my favorite kinda, like-

Scott Brady: I, I do think there’s a lot of advantage to an analog watch.

Yeah. It’s another way of disconnecting. It’s the reason why I like the Garmin over an Apple Watch, is that I… The only notification that I get on the Garmin is if a phone call’s coming through- Yeah … which I find useful, ’cause I don’t always have my phone on me.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: So, um, but there’s a lot to be said for an analog watch.

I mean, it’s, it’s the one, like, piece of jewelry that a guy will typically wear- Yeah … is a watch. So for it to connect in with a brand that you love, being Porsche, and, and this one’s got a compass, which is l- along travel lines. I mean- Yeah … I get it. Like, I think that analog wat- There’s a lot of advantages to, to analog watches, I think, in, in my mind.

All right, what else do you got on your list?

Matt Scott: Hmm. I bought the new Leica M11.

Scott Brady: Yeah?

Matt Scott: I’ve been shooting rangefinders now for 12 years, and, uh… Here’s the interesting thing about these cameras, is they are [01:05:00] ridiculously expensive, but they don’t depreciate in the same way that, you know, let’s say a Canon DSLR will.

Scott Brady: Sure.

Matt Scott: As soon as a Canon DSLR, like, I ha- I bought a… The last, the last DSLR or Canon camera I bought was, like, a 5D Mark IV. I mean, it’s a doorstop now, you know. I still paid $3,500 for it. It’s… I mean, I don’t know how old those things are, what they’re-

Scott Brady: Old.

Matt Scott: They’re old.

Scott Brady: Yeah, five, six years old now.

Matt Scott: But it’s, it’s, it’s worthless.

Like, I have a five or six-year-old M10 rangefinder that I paid I always buy them used, right? So I paid probably 4,500 bucks for, and I could probably get four grand for it today. So when you, when you’ve been in this hobby for a long time, of these Leica cameras and rangefinders, and particularly the lenses, ’cause any photographer will tell you the body’s kind of disposable.

Um, it’s the lenses that you really want to invest in. Yeah. So I have lenses… Like, one of my favorite lenses is a 40 millimeter [01:06:00] Summicron. It’s actually not technically for an M, but it’s interchangeable. I paid, like, $400 for that lens. At the time, it was, like, the cheapest that you could get. Well, now they’re, like, 1,500 to $2,000 in good condition, ’cause Leica continually raises their prices.

Scott Brady: Right.

Matt Scott: And everything from, like, the ’50s to present is interchangeable. They ha- they don’t every couple years build in obsolescence to it.

Scott Brady: Yeah. They’ve got some class as a company. So this

Matt Scott: new M11, I think it’s actually, like, a Sony a7.

Scott Brady: Yeah, same sensor as that’s in my

Matt Scott: camera. Yeah. It’s 60 megapixels, backside illuminated.

Um, it has phenomenal, uh, you know, uh, dynamic range. It, I mean, it, it, it is rated as the best sensor that you can get in a 35 millimeter camera. It is, it is up there- Amazing … and competing with medium format cameras. And Leicas have always been, like, so behind on this stuff. Like, great lenses, interesting shooting experience.

Like, the sensors were [01:07:00] always, if we’re being honest, like-

Scott Brady: They were okay …

Matt Scott: they were okay. Yeah. You know, they were overpriced. This is the first camera From them that r- like, from the first time I used it, I’m like, “Wow, they’ve really got this figured out.”

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: They’ve integrated the live view shooting very nicely.

There’s a button, um, that allows you, just instantly magnifies and you can touch on the screen and it’ll magnify to there, which is really handy with a rangefinder ’cause you can only focus in the center. Um, if you don’t know what a rangefinder is, you’re basically aligning, uh, lines. You’re, you’re literally taking two images through mirrors and you’re, you’re overlapping them until they, until they match.

You have a, a monochrome. You get it. Um, this, this thing is actually phenomenal. Um…

Scott Brady: And it’s a great way to shoot and I think it, it… The reason why rangefinders have always resulted in such exceptional photographs is that the phot- the photographer has to be very engaged in the process.

Matt Scott: Yeah,

Scott Brady: yeah. Um… [01:08:00]

Matt Scott: You have to be present.

Yeah. And I enjoy the act of taking images with it, um, because the reality these days is that your phone is the most accessible, best camera that you can have on you.

Scott Brady: Most of the time.

Matt Scott: Yeah. Like, it’s just always there, so that’s what you always use. Um…

Scott Brady: And as a result, a lot of the photographs end up looking the exact same.

Matt Scott: Yeah. So if you’re trying to be a little more creative, um… Ah, I just, this thing is, is wonderful.

Scott Brady: Yeah, they’re cool. Yeah, they’re really cool.

Matt Scott: Um, it… And always buy them used is my advice. I bought this one, it, it was unused, honestly. Like, there’s people that will just buy these things, like, just rich idiots that just collect these things and never use them, and then the next one they’ll always do, like, a P version-

Scott Brady: Sure

Matt Scott: which has, like, a sapphire screen- … but it’ll be the same. And then they, everybody sells their other ones. So I always buy it, like, 18 months in.

Scott Brady: Sure.

Matt Scott: And you can get, you know, like, several thousand dollars off.

Scott Brady: That’s a lot of money. Um,

Matt Scott: you know, but then you [01:09:00] keep it a- and you keep it in decent condition. I mean, I usually…

Mine’ll have some brassing or whatever on it ’cause actually there’s parts right there, literally brass. This one’s aluminum but, um- They kind of just keep going up and, you know, they keep raising the price. Yeah. So then in a couple years when you go to get the next one, you’re not-

Scott Brady: You don’t have a doorstop.

Matt Scott: You don’t have a doorstop.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: So I think that’s maybe the, the hard thing for people that they’re like, “Wow, that’s really, really expensive,” ’cause they are like eight

Scott Brady: or nine grand. Well, it’s expensive the first time you buy it.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: And then if you continue to upgrade and use it throughout a lifetime, then it’s probably not that

Matt Scott: expensive.

Yeah, you know, it costs you… In my experience, ’cause this is my fifth. I’ve had an M8, M9, M240, M10. Yeah, fifth Rangefinder Maybe $1,000 every c- every three, four years.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: And I don’t think that… I general- I genuinely do not think that you could shoot a, a, a, a Canon DSLR or mirrorless or [01:10:00] whatever for that amount of money.

Scott Brady: Yeah, ’cause they go from being expensive to doorstops. They went from three

Matt Scott: or four grand now to-

Scott Brady: Yeah … nothing. For sure. Yeah, exactly. And a special thanks to O3 Outdoors for their support of this week’s podcast. The world is messy. That’s the price every outdoorsman pays for adventure. So when we need to keep things fresh, well, we at O3 Outdoors don’t just do things halfway.

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Our trekker bags allow you to pack, store, and carry your gear, cleaning it the entire time. Our portable overlander units fit in any vehicle, home, or RV. [01:11:00] It’s the highest tech brought to you to the outdoor experience, keeping your gear fresh from one frontier to another. For more information, visit o-3outdoors.com.

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Matt Scott: So I’ve rambled on my pretentious, snobby- … gear tastes. Do you wanna- Yeah, but

Scott Brady: I love your gear tastes

Matt Scott: Do you wanna ramble about- That’s why we’re bud- … your pretentious- That’s why we’re- … and snobby gear tastes? That’s why we’re buddies. You know,

Scott Brady: and it’s funny because mine somehow didn’t end up pretentious, as pretentious, so, um, as mine n- mine normally does.

But… And I think, I think a lot of it’s because I’ve just been very much in a travel mode this year. Yeah. Um, and so I’ve, I’ve really liked the Garmin watch. I’ve had the Apple Watch, and I do have quite a few analog watches. Like, I have my dad’s vintage Seiko Pogue that I really love. Uh, but I’ve been wearing [01:12:00] the Garmin a lot because I do use it for tracking fitness, and I also, I like it for travel- Mm-hmm

’cause it does have a GPS built into it. Um- Backup … it, which is some redundancy that I like. Uh, so I’ve got the, the Fenix Sapphire, and, you know, it’s kind of, it’s a little bit understated. You’ve

Matt Scott: got the big one.

Scott Brady: I do. It’s pretty, it’s pretty good size, um, which is fi- I’m a bigger guy, so you, it kind of swallows it a little bit.

But, um, I put kind of, like, a fun NATO style band on it- Yeah … um, so it doesn’t look quite as techy as, ’cause I don’t really like the techy version of modern-

Matt Scott: The problem with the, the, the- regular one is you, it almost stretches on you- It’s weird.

Scott Brady: Yeah, it’s

Matt Scott: weird … and it kind of gets sweaty.

Scott Brady: Yeah. And, and actually, like, gets, yeah, s- sweaty and scratchy and itchy- Yeah

and yeah. But I do like this NATO band.

Matt Scott: And that has a light built into it, right?

Scott Brady: It does. And actually, so yeah. So when I first got it, I think I posted something on it, and Gianni, a mutual friend of ours, [01:13:00] uh, he’s like, “Dude, you’re gonna love the light.” And I’m like, “What?” And he’s, he’s like, “I’m telling you, you’re gonna love the light.”

Hmm. And sure enough, like I use the light all the time on the watch. It’s kind of

Matt Scott: like your flashlight-

Scott Brady: Yeah …

Matt Scott: on your phone.

Scott Brady: Yeah. It’s a lot of time. Except the cool thing is, is that it’s on your wrist, so you, you actually have your hands free.

Matt Scott: Oh,

Scott Brady: okay. So you know, it- even though it’s not maybe flashing directly onto the object, there’s enough ambient light that’s created from it- Mm-hmm

where you’re able to use both hands.

Matt Scott: Yeah, I mean, that kind of makes sense.

Scott Brady: Yeah. So it’s actually, it’s super cool. I, I do like the l- I forgot about the light. You’re right that the light’s really useful. Um, I, I’ve also really liked the new Dometic water system. We talked about that earlier, but I think they just nailed it with that.

It’s three and a half gallons for the jug, so the jugs are lighter, easier to handle. They’re also perfectly square, and they tend to store really well easily. Um, I like the USB charged, um, faucet. So the… I think it’s a really clever system, uh, and I’ve used it a lot personally. Yeah. So I do, I do [01:14:00] like that.

Um, I also have really enjoyed, uh, Redarc makes a, like a comprehensive solar blanket, uh, package that includes, uh, the solar charge controller and alligator clips, and I used that- Oh, that’s

Matt Scott: kind

Scott Brady: of cool … I used that on, with the Gl- uh, Grenadier in, in, uh, in Africa. And I just, it’s just the right size for the windscreen, so it goes across the windscreen, and it keeps my fridge running.

Mm. It keeps the Starlink running if I’ve got that going. Um, it also gave me some, a little bit more confidence, just in case I accidentally left accessories on or drained the battery.

Matt Scott: Yeah, you just hang out for a little bit and it’ll start.

Scott Brady: That’s right. So which I’m traveling as a solo vehicle, so for me it was kind of an important redundancy- Mm

uh, to have that.

Matt Scott: Yeah, the Redarc stuff’s really nice.

Scott Brady: Yeah, I think they do a nice job with it. Um, yeah, and I just like brought it over in my, in my check bag. Yeah. It was just like super easy. Um, and then I’ve really, I r- or I’ve really liked this, um, [01:15:00] Explorer Trailer X145. It’s the best trailer. I’m not a huge fan of trailers- Mm

but it’s the best trailer that I’ve ever used, and it has kind of become my earth roamer. Yeah, yeah. So, um, I’ve spent- Probably 80 And you kind of like,

Matt Scott: sometimes you live in it when you come back from Africa. I

Scott Brady: do. I do. I’ve probably got 100 nights-

Matt Scott: Yeah …

Scott Brady: in that thing. And it’s got a dry bath, like a big shower.

It’s got a, a… You know, the toilet system, I’m not a huge fan of. It’s like one of those- Is it a dry

Matt Scott: bath-

Scott Brady: It’s- …

Matt Scott: or wet bath?

Scott Brady: No, it’s dry. Oh, interesting. So the shower’s totally separate from the toilet. A big bathroom in the ve- very back of it. Um, double bed. Um, it has 1,080 amp hours of lithium. Which is

Matt Scott: crazy, ’cause it’s not

Scott Brady: Which means you can run the air conditioner, like, all the time.

Matt Scott: Yeah. So- It has, like, 1,000 watts of solar, too …

Scott Brady: 1,000 watts of solar. Yeah. So you can, you could run the Dometic air conditioner

Matt Scott: nonstop. Oh, and it’s, is it the t- the 12 volt?

Scott Brady: Yeah, that’s [01:16:00] right.

Matt Scott: See, that’s interesting- Super efficient … because those only pull, like, I think it’s between 30 and 50 amps DC. Mm-hmm.

Scott Brady: That’s right.

Matt Scott: And 1,000 watts of solar will sustain that.

Scott Brady: That’s right.

Matt Scott: So, like, your, like, glide ratio, so to speak- Yes … is tremendous.

Scott Brady: Which means you can run it through the night-

Matt Scott: Yeah …

Scott Brady: when it’s hot. Um, and it’s also only a 15-foot box. Yeah. So it’s not a lot of space. And this Explorer Trailer Company, um, they…

And they’re not an advertiser, it’s just, like, it’s, I just happen to really like the product. Um, the, the ex- Explorer Company, trailer company, uh, Imperial Outdoors, they make ice fishing trailers. Mm. So, like, that’s where they got, they cut their teeth. Yeah, ‘

Matt Scott: cause it’s four season. It, I mean, it’s,

Scott Brady: it’s well-insulated.

It’s a true four sea- It’s quiet

Matt Scott: inside.

Scott Brady: It’s a true four season trailer. It also has, um, heating blankets on the gray water and the main water tanks that run off the [01:17:00] lithiums- Yeah … and keeps the system from freezing. That’s nice. So it, yeah, it’s, it’s super. And it’s got, uh, you know, the, a proper Australian style, um, you know, suspension syston- system on it, airbag suspension system on it, so it actually does pretty well off-road.

Mm. And it’s not that heavy, 5,000 pounds, so it’ll tow- Yeah … behind most vehicles. You could do

Matt Scott: it behind a Wrangler.

Scott Brady: That’s right. Exactly. So there’s, there’s a lot that I like about that trailer. I, I’m kind of, kind of become a fan.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: Become a fan of that one. All right, man. Well, you know, we’re kinda coming to the end here, but I think, um, what are you excited about for 2024?

What kind of trip are you excited to do in 2024?

Matt Scott: I haven’t actually figured out what I’m gonna do as far as a trip. Um, I, I’m, I’m interested in the Canadian Rockies.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: Um, that’s not something I wanna do in the summer. That’s probably more of a end of fall trip when there’s less, less people there.

Scott Brady: Sure.

Matt Scott: Um-

Scott Brady: And see the aurora …

Matt Scott: Pacific, yeah, Pacific Northwest is on my, on my radar Nice [01:18:00] I’ve always kind of driven through that area, and I haven’t spent any significant time there.

Scott Brady: Nice.

Matt Scott: Um, it’s so gorgeous up there, and it’s so different from Arizona.

Scott Brady: I like it up there.

Matt Scott: Um,

Scott Brady: yeah. Yeah. I really liked Oregon.

Matt Scott: I, I really, I really like that.

Our next stuff that we’re gonna be doing, honestly, is, is ski camping. You know, the RoamR, same thing, all the heated tanks, and it’s so comfortable and so well-insulated.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: Um, you know, and hotels have just gone, like, insanely expensive that, um, you know, a lot of the resorts in New Mexico, some of them in Utah and Wyoming and Montana, they allow you to camp in the parking lot.

Scott Brady: Oh, that’s amazing.

Matt Scott: Um, so you know, it, it can be a semi-affordable way to- Um, you know

Scott Brady: Go to some really nice spots.

Matt Scott: Well, yeah, ’cause the, the challenge for the winter is that we live in the place where everybody travels in the winter. Yeah. Like Arizona, you know, the Southwest, the, the low desert. [01:19:00] Um, I mean, it’s obviously been a warm and dry winter, but for so many years we’ve, we’ve, you know, we’ve gone down to the Sonoran Desert- Mm-hmm

we’ve gone to Baja or, you know, Southern California, that kind of stuff. I’m just kinda trying something different now that we have the ability to-

Scott Brady: I love it …

Matt Scott: keep us and the Greyhound warm.

Scott Brady: I love it. Yeah. Yeah, winter camping’s pretty fun. I- for me, I’m just really

Matt Scott: excited- Well, you’re, you’re in the middle of an Africa trip.

Duh.

Scott Brady: Yeah, I’m just really excited to finish up this trip. I’ve got Ethiopia next, and th- that’s become … You know, it’s a real logistical challenge to get the vehicle in there, but I think I’ve got it solved. Um, and then into Djibouti to ship the vehicle, but that’s a real challenge because of the conflict right now, um, in, in, in the Red Sea and that region of the world.

So, um, who knows? Like, it could be a lot more of a challenge when I finally get there in a couple weeks. Mm. So we’ll see. But I’m about ready to go to Morocco and ride the new Ducati, so I’m excited about that too, so.

Matt Scott: That’ll be fun. Motorcycle press launches are usually no joke.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: [01:20:00] There’ll be people like us that can kinda ride a bike, and then there’s, like, some, like, test rider that, you know, uh, at age three was doing back flips.

Scott Brady: Yeah, and I’m glad that they, that those folks exist because every once in a while you do get someone on a press launch that didn’t answer the questions honestly. Mm. And there’s usually someone that’s going to the hospital every press launch. Yeah. Um, so yeah. Yeah, y- you can’t fake it. Like-

Matt Scott: Yeah …

Scott Brady: four-wheel drive journalists fake it a lot.

They don’t actually know how to drive off-road, but the cars are so good that they somehow survive.

Matt Scott: And they have, like, the best trainers in the world- Yeah … like, telling them-

Scott Brady: Yeah …

Matt Scott: by millimeter

Scott Brady: where

Matt Scott: to go.

Scott Brady: Exactly. Whereas on a motorcycle you can’t fake it. You gotta either ride it or you go to the hospital.

Yeah.

Matt Scott: Heavy bike and sand.

Scott Brady: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Uh, so we got … The- we have reached out t- a couple times on the podcast to small businesses, uh, to please always reach out to Matt and I. We wanna support small businesses in the industry. Yeah, really important. It’s really important. [01:21:00] Uh, we love seeing people come up with new ideas.

So this one’s actually kind of fun. It’s called Radio Chatter, and it is for when you’re going overlanding and you, you wanna k- you know, strike up a conversation over the radio, maybe with people that you don’t know that well. And it’s got … It’s kinda like, you know, the dating cards or whatever the ones that you

But it’s, it’s all these different questions. So I’m gonna ask Matt a couple questions here. Oh,

Matt Scott: okay.

Scott Brady: So, um- I honestly, I didn’t know

Matt Scott: about this.

Scott Brady: Okay. So th- this is, um, what other hobbies or activities have you incorporated into your travels?

Matt Scott: Bird watching

Scott Brady: Nice. That’s right. Ornithology. I like that.

Matt Scott: Hmm.

Scott Brady: Seems like eating became a good

Matt Scott: hobby. Yeah, I mean, yeah, eating. I, I don’t do the cooking. Um, Laura’s very talented. So yeah, eating. Um, oh, geez Photography

Scott Brady: Yeah

Matt Scott: Always photography. But birdwatching is the, uh, maybe the unexpected one.

Scott Brady: Yes, that’s right.

Matt Scott: Okay. Should we-

Scott Brady: And it seem- it [01:22:00] seems to be a thing with, with overlanders, a little bit of ornithology,

Matt Scott: so How about another one?

Scott Brady: All right, here’s another one. Uh, what piece of gear has been the biggest disappointment for you?

Matt Scott: Ooh. I mean, should I answer that one honestly?

Scott Brady: Yes.

Matt Scott: Uh, the Redarc RedVision system. Just constantly, like something would rattle loose or like the little screws that held in the clips would… Something would go, or if…

It was just too complicated for the, the, the application. Yeah.

Scott Brady: Yeah. So good for a trailer, but- Yeah … maybe not

Matt Scott: Just instantly. Yeah, I mean, they, like they make good stuff, and now they have like a smaller version.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: But, you know, there was a period where like every, like, Instagram influencer was putting this like system meant for a trailer in the back of their 4Runner, and then you think it’s a good idea, and it was a terrible one.

Unequivocally that.

Scott Brady: Good.

Matt Scott: Yeah.

Scott Brady: So these are pretty cool. Sorry, Redarc. Well, I mean, you’re… It’s, it’s super important that we’re always honest about the products that we use. Yeah. And some companies make great solutions, and sometimes the solution [01:23:00] doesn’t work out. Uh, but this is really clever, so-

Matt Scott: I wanna pick one for you.

Scott Brady: Okay. Do it

Matt Scott: What haircare products do you use when you overland?

No, the act- the, the, the actual one is what is your go-to camping area?

Scott Brady: Oh, my go-to camping area

Ooh, in, in North America, I would say it’s Southern Utah. Oh. I really like- That’s so

Matt Scott: good.

Scott Brady: I really do. Oh, it’s terrible,

Matt Scott: actually. Don’t go there.

Scott Brady: And it’s really easy to get there from here. Uh, so- That’s

Matt Scott: cool. That’s a really cool-

Scott Brady: Yeah, isn’t that a neat thing? Yeah. So, so- Support that. Yeah, check out Radio Chatter.

Uh, they’re on Instagram and all of the things. Um, and then, um, Brian Wilmert, who I’ve worked with on some projects, uh, with GM, he’s, uh, started another little business, um, making spices. So it’s Detroit barbecue, Willie B.’s-

Matt Scott: Okay …

Scott Brady: Detroit barbecue, and it’s… I, [01:24:00] I’ve not… This is a, a, an unboxing at the same time, but you know, it’s got a cool little very overlandy looking bag.

Yeah, it’s nice. Um, and then you open it up here, and it’s got a whole bunch of spices. So- It’s got Bayou Problems, it’s got it’s got Smokey Meat, and, uh, Kiss and Slap. There’s a whole b- I like it … there’s a, there’s a whole bunch of different barbecue seasonings, uh, in a nice little- Yeah,

Matt Scott: a lot of uses for that too, ’cause generally people just, like, don’t bring seasonings or anything-

Scott Brady: Yeah

Matt Scott: with them when they go camping.

Scott Brady: Yeah. And it’s, and it’s in a cool little, little bag, and it’s designed and made by an overlander that’s really passionate about our industry. So nice job on this, Brian. So check this out. Willie B.’s Barbecue, like, seasoning kit, which is kind of cool. And then, uh, last couple things here.

We actually had some comments on, on Instagram, and one of them [01:25:00] that I, I really wanted to, to, to, to talk about here, and I’m not gonna mention his name, but it, it’s important. Um, i- he says, “Hey man, I’ve been debating on sending you this for a while and I’m not even sure you’ll see it,” but, um, which we do try to read every comment that we get on Instagram as a DM.

“But I wanted to thank you for what you do. Uh, from your podcast to the Overland Journal. Um, this has been… This has helped me immensely for a bit. I was in a pretty dark spot, but I would always try to come back to at least your podcast and it’s helped me continue to push on because of my want to see the world like you have.

So once again, thank you for the work and for giving me a goal that I truly want to reach.” So, um, first of all, thank you for reaching out and, um, I’ve been able to communicate with him since then. But for those of you that are struggling, um, if there is anything that Matt and I can do to support you, uh, life can get dark for folks.

Yeah. Um, and there is help. There’s people that love you. [01:26:00] Um, and uh, so please reach out if there is something that we can do to support you. Um, you know, s- stay in contact with people in your life. Um, but l- you know, life can get challenging, so- Yeah. And,

Matt Scott: and I think also just always remember that the, the world that you see people live on the internet is generally not their world.

Scott Brady: Right.

Matt Scott: You know? It, it’s a curated view of it. Like-

Scott Brady: Yeah …

Matt Scott: it,

Scott Brady: I mean- You get the highlight

Matt Scott: reel … a- and it’s okay to, it’s okay to say that, you know, you’re down or you’re, you’re having some problems. Like I- I’ve gone through that.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: You know? And- Talking to people and just being open about it helps so much.

Scott Brady: Yeah, we really need to have those people that we trust close to us- Yeah … um, that we can do that. So, and here’s a- another question from Ryan. Uh, he says I love, I love his question. Uh, “I wanted to get some advice from someone with actual experience, if you don’t mind,” which I, I mean, I do have some actual experience around this topic that he’s asking about, but says, “I plan to take my first longish overland trip to Baja from Kentucky in my Tundra.

I hear [01:27:00] nothing but amazing things about Baja, and I am super excited to see it for myself. Uh, though my close family and friends,” um, who he puts in parentheses, “, uh, think we’ll be kidnapped and skinned alive. Um- Hmm … it will be just my wife, a dog, and myself. Uh, should I be concerned about traveling to Baja alone?”

So Matt and I can share our personal experiences. I have never had even the smallest issue of any kind in any part of Mexico, including all of mainland, all the way down through the Yucatan and, uh, Mexico City and everything else. I mean, I’ve, I’ve had to pay some questionable traffic tickets. Mm. Um, and I did get extorted a little bit by the police in Mexico City but I never feared for my life.

I never felt like that I was unsafe. But there are some basic principles that you want to employ. Uh, it’s … It is fine to travel alone. I’ve done a [01:28:00] bunch of solo trips in Baja. Uh, but if you’re traveling solo, like just you and your family in a vehicle, stick to more traveled routes where you’ll come across other travelers if you have a problem.

Um-

Matt Scott: Yeah, there’s a lot of people in Baja these days. That’s right. There’s a lot of vehicle-based travelers down there.

Scott Brady: Bring along something like a spot device or a Garmin inReach so that you can communicate if you have an issue, if you have a mechanical problem. Obviously, he’s driving a Tundra, so he’s probably not gonna- Yeah

not gonna have any issues at all. Um, and then really avoid driving at night. Um- Yeah,

Matt Scott: just don’t do it …

Scott Brady: just don’t do it. And it’s not because it’s like the banditos come out at night, which is maybe true, but it’s more like donkeys in the road, drunks in the road, drunks driving on the highway. Um-

Matt Scott: Cows.

Scott Brady: Cows.

And the roads have basically no shoulder, so there’s a high degree of risk- Yeah … driving at, at night. Keep the vehicle speed low. Drive during the day. Don’t drive fatigued. Um, and then just have a great time because Baja is wonderful. [01:29:00] The food’s amazing. Yeah. The people are amazing.

Matt Scott: Yeah, I mean, I … The only time that I’ve had an issue was when I broke my rule and I drove at night, and I don’t even know if it was an issue.

I’m not even- It felt like an

Scott Brady: issue though …

Matt Scott: it felt like an issue.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: Um, and that was really easily avoidable. I was, I was trying to drive from south of Loretto to north of San Felipe in one day, and gas station wasn’t open, you know? Yep. Um, so you have to wait for the gas station to be open. Um, you know- It’s, it’s fine.

Like, it’s-

Scott Brady: Yeah …

Matt Scott: like I think that you, I think that you have to be diligent, you know? Like I, the, maybe where I do differ on, on the Mexico thing is, you know, statistically Mexico has some issues. Yeah. Right? Um, you’re gonna be in an unfamiliar place, and, um, you, you don’t need to be paranoid, but I do think that it is wise to not place yourself in situations that would make you uncomfortable [01:30:00] because you may just get jumpy and then provoke something into happening.

So if, if you’re uncomfortable with the situation, remove yourself from the situation.

Scott Brady: Yeah.

Matt Scott: You know? Um…

Scott Brady: And then there’s routes that are a little bit better. Yeah. So for example, if you were to stay on the Sea of Cortez side, there’s a lot more tourist traffic there. There’s a lot more tourism infrastructure.

Yeah. Um, it’s just kind of a quieter route, especially down- Yeah … through Gonzaga Bay- Yeah … and all that.

Matt Scott: And that’s all paved now. I mean, you could take- It is paved … a Ferrari through that at 150 mile an hour. It’s- Yeah … it’s a good road. Um, you know, Tijuana can have some issues.

Scott Brady: Yep.

Matt Scott: You know? Like I, would I, would I leave my EarthRoamer parked overnight in Tijuana?

No.

Scott Brady: Yeah, but and there’s so many US cities that, like you wouldn’t do that in a bunch of areas- I wouldn’t do … in Phoenix.

Matt Scott: Like I’m, I’m from Chicago. Yeah. Like I wouldn’t- Yeah … there’s a lot of places there. You know, you’re from the East Coast. Yeah. Like there’s dangerous places on the East Coast.

Scott Brady: Yep.

Matt Scott: Dangerous places on the West Coast, too, but anyways.

Scott Brady: Yeah, so drive during the [01:31:00] day, stick to the more traveled routes, and have a bunch of tacos. Have a great time, and then reach back out when you do your trip. We’d love to see some photos- Yeah … and, uh, share some of your experiences from, from the adventures.

Um, I did get some other questions, but we’re gonna run out of time today. Please make sure that you reach out to Matt and I if you’ve got questions or you wanted to follow up with anything, or you have suggestions. Like we know that we have a lot to learn still, even though we’re at like 180 episodes now.

Um, we have a lot to learn, and we want to get better. We want the podcast to get better. Yeah. Um, I’ve not always nailed the audio, and I apologize for that. That’s not F- Paula’s fault. It’s usually me trying to record it someplace in the field um, and I’ve not done a great job of that. Um, so we’re continuing to try to improve our audio and other- Yeah

other things

Matt Scott: there. Sometimes it’s hard to get overland travelers into a studio.

Scott Brady: Yeah, it’s difficult. Yeah, it’s diff- it’s difficult. So Matt, how do they, how do they reach you?

Matt Scott: Um, I’m sporadically on Instagram at Matt [01:32:00] Explore.

Scott Brady: Yep. And you’re- And

Matt Scott: you’re, you’re scott.a.brady.

Scott Brady: That’s me. So, uh- Awesome … if you guys wanna, if you guys wanna reach out with any questions or comments, and again, small businesses, please reach out.

We’d love to work with you. Yeah. Um, uh, it’s really fun for us to see you guys be successful and come up with cool ideas like Radio Chatter, so.

Matt Scott: Cool.

Scott Brady: Well, thanks Matt. Appreciate your time. Awesome year. Yeah. So now we got 2024 ahead of us. I’m excited. Hope that it’s a good one. Yeah. And we thank you all for listening, and we’ll talk to you next time.