Show Notes for Podcast #129
2022 In Review: Vehicles, Gear, and Industry Updates
Summary:
Matt Scott and Scott Brady share their experiences from 2022, including project wrapups, new vehicles, the state of new overland models and EVs, and significant changes in the overland industry. They also chat about their favorite kit and some of their travel and vehicle plans for 2023.
Host Bios:
Scott Brady
Scott is the publisher and co-founder of Expedition Portal and Overland Journal and is often credited with popularizing overlanding in North America. His travels by 4WD and adventure motorcycle span all seven continents and includes three circumnavigations of the globe. His polar expeditions include two vehicle crossings of Antarctica and the first long-axis crossing of Greenland. @scott.a.brady
Matthew Scott
Matthew 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
Remembering 2022 and the loss of Bill Swails
Obituary Bill Swails
William J. (Bill) Swails, 60, of Broomfield, CO left this world peacefully in the early morning of April 6th after his second hard-fought battle with pneumonia.
Bill was an adventurer and lived his life to the fullest. To him problems were simply challenges with solutions, and he embraced the process to always achieve more.
In his early years, Bill learned the art of getting his way by flashing his crystal blue eyes, being rebellious and making himself the center of attention. He had no fear of consequences, not even from his beloved mother. One such event involved a school field trip shortly after having read Tom Sawyer, which propelled him to forge his own path, apart from the group. He was rewarded with a horseback ride from the park ranger and a warm backside when he got home.
During his early college years, Bill led his engineering class at Muskingum Area Technical College in building an ultra-light aircraft, the first project of that magnitude for the small college. He continued his education at The Ohio State University where he could often be seen riding his unicycle across the main oval on campus. After earning a Bachelor’s in Systems Engineering, he secured a job at McDonnell Douglas in California. While working full-time, Bill took the opportunity to attend the University of California Los Angeles Anderson School of Management where he excelled in the Master of Business Administration program, eagerly testing the Bass diffusion model, and applying it to investments in America Online. Applied knowledge and careful saving habits provided him with the means to pursue his passions in life.
One of his lifetime passions was photography. As a teenager, Bill crafted a homemade darkroom in his mother’s basement and was rarely without his Nikon camera. This passion opened the door to future travels in various parts of the world including Africa, Nepal, Mexico, Thailand, China, and Morocco to name a few. His accomplishments included summiting Mt. Rainier and many of the “14ers” in Colorado, climbing to base camp of Mount Everest, and riding a motorcycle across the Moroccan Desert.
Bill’s dream and ultimate accomplishment, however, was building his legacy – EarthRoamer. Early on Bill realized the need for a full-function off-road recreational vehicle no matter where one roamed. After trekking in his original camper dubbed the ER2K, his vision and passion for travel and photography evolved into EarthRoamer which is now widely known as the leader in the luxury overland industry.
Bill’s moto in life was to “Live Your Dream” and he certainly accomplished that goal and challenged all who knew him to do the same. Bill believed in being a constant mentor to many people during his short time in this world, especially to his siblings.
Bill lived by this quote from Hunter S. Thompson which reads “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!” Though his life ended too soon, he lived it to the fullest and inspired countless others with his passion and quiet leadership.
Bill is survived by his wife, Pakkaporn (Sine) Swails; her parents, Duang Chonsawat and Nichapa Kaimat; his wife’s nephew, Daechchai Cholsawat; his siblings, Bob (Karen) Swails, Brenda (John) Hamilton, Brent (Charlie) Swails, and Beth Patrick; several nieces and nephews; a host of close friends, and his beloved EarthRoamer family.
He is predeceased by his parents, Lois (Ames) Swails, Joseph F. Swails, Jr. and Sue Swails; infant brother, Barry Russell Swails, and brother-in-law, Randy Patrick.
A graveside service will be held at Bakersville Cemetery in Bakersville, OH on Saturday, May 7th at 5:00 p.m. with food and refreshments immediately afterward.
Tech in 2022
Starlink: https://www.starlink.com/
Use Emergency SOS via satellite on your iPhone 14
With iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models, you can use Emergency SOS via satellite to text emergency services when you’re out of cellular and Wi-Fi coverage. You can also use the Find My app to share your location with people via satellite.
How Emergency SOS via satellite works
Emergency SOS via satellite can help you connect with emergency services under exceptional circumstances when no other means of reaching emergency services are available. If you call or text emergency services and can’t connect because you’re outside the range of cellular and Wi-Fi coverage, your iPhone tries to connect you via satellite to the help that you need.
When you use a satellite connection, the experience is different than sending or receiving a message via cellular. In ideal conditions with a direct view of the sky and the horizon, a message might take 15 seconds to send, and over a minute to send under trees with light or medium foliage. If you’re under heavy foliage or surrounded by other obstructions, you might not be able to connect to a satellite. Connection times can also be impacted by your surroundings, the length of your message, and the status and availability of the satellite network.
Emergency SOS via satellite is free for two years after the activation of iPhone 14 or iPhone 14 Pro.
GADGETS:
https://www.motionpro.com/product/08-0712
Link here Dometic Water System
Transcript:
Scott Brady: Hello and welcome to the Overland Journal podcast. I am your host, Scott Brady, and I’m joined today by my co-host, Matt Scott. In today’s podcast, we talk about the year 2022. As the year comes to an end, we reflect back on the significant innovations that have happened within the overland industry, some of the shakeups, and unfortunately some of the losses that we’ve had as a community. We also talk about the gear that we’ve really fallen in love with and the vehicles that we’ve also built out for our own travels. So please enjoy this wide ranging conversation about 2022 with Matt and me. This content is brought to you by Overland Journal, our premium quality print publication. The magazine was founded in 2006. With the goal of providing independent equipment and vehicle reviews along with the most stunning adventures and [00:01:00] photography, we care deeply about the countries and cultures. We visit and share our experiences freely with our readers. We also have zero advertorial policy and do not accept any advertiser compensation for our reviews. By subscribing to Overland Journal, you’re helping to support our employee-owned. And veteran owned publication. Your support also provides resources and funding for content like you are watching or listening to right now. You can subscribe directly on our website@overlandjournal.com. All right, Matt.
Matt Scott: We’re talking about 2022, we’re in 2023.
Scott Brady: We are, yeah, so it’s, so.
Matt Scott: We’re going back in time.
Scott Brady: It’s first couple weeks of ‘23. I don’t know where, where we were around the 11th of January and we’re gonna look back on 2022. Now. The, I mean, 2019 was great. 2020 was like, what [00:02:00] happened? 2021 was like the entire industry was holding onto its, you know, shoelaces. And then now, now, uh, we’re here. Yeah, we’re here. And, and, um, Travel is now opening back up again.
Matt ScottYeah, pretty much.
Scott Brady: In most ways, unless you want to cross Russia, which would probably be a little complicated.
Matt Scott: You know what like, uh.
Scott Brady: And having cross Russia, I don’t know that it would be high on my list.
Matt Scott: I really want to do the trans Serbian railway.
Scott Brady: That would be worthwhile.
Matt Scott: And every time that I’m like, like that was one of the things I really wanted to do during the pandemic. You know, we, I think, you know, we all sat at home for the most part and we’re like, oh, well where are we gonna go when things open back up?
Scott Brady: Yeah, sure.
Matt Scott: I’ve always wanted to do the trans Serbian railway. And every time I get close to doing it, Russia invades someone.
Scott Brady: Yeah, exactly.
Matt Scott: Because I want to come to your country because there’s such a wealth of history there.
Scott Brady: Absolutely.
Matt Scott: That has been basically, you know, for our generations[00:03:00] blocked from. Scott Brady: Yeah.
Matt Scott: You know, they were Russia bad. Yeah. Um, but there’s, there’s all this wonderful history of literature and art and.
Scott Brady: Yes.
Matt Scott: Like I mean, you’ve been to Saint.
Scott Brady: And, and the people are wonderful. I mean, St. Petersburg, beautiful city.
Matt Scott: What’s the museum in St. Petersburg?
Scott Brady: The, um, starts with an h.
Matt Scott: Armitage.
Scott Brady: Armitage, yeah.
Matt Scott: Like totally want to go.
Scott Brady: Yeah, it’s great.
Matt Scott: But.
Scott Brady: Let’s open up the borders and let’s let in tourists and let’s all have a good time. Yeah.
Matt Scott: But we’re so close.
Scott Brady: A, a couple oligarchs don’t get to.
Matt Scott: Yeah. They were.
Scott Brady: Add their new toys.
Matt Scott: They were issuing 10 year visas and you could actually go and multiple entry stuff and. Well, so yeah, that’s how 2022 started for most people was, uh, a very inconvenient war that drove up gas prices, made overland travel even harder, and, uh, started crashing the economy. So we’ve covered that. Where do we go from there?
Scott Brady: Well, I think that 2022, I mean, [00:04:00] it’s just good to look back on the year, I mean, we as an overland industry. We, we lost Bill Swes of Earth Roamer. Yep. Um, he, for me personally, he was a good friend. He, he helped us start Overland Journal as a magazine. . He founded Earth Roamer as a company. He was featured in Four-Wheeler Magazine on a regular basis, which is an.
Matt Scott: When was that Ram he had.
Scott Brady: That’s right, he had a ram. It was his first Earth roamer, and that’s another loss that we have in 2022 is the end of four-Wheeler Magazine. This was for me when I would read the stories of Bill Swes or Gary Amco Westcott of. Of the Turtle Expedition, these were formative stories for me, and four Wheeler was always a little bit. More thoughtful, a little bit more travel oriented. [00:05:00] And it’s the end of an era. I mean, there are very few off-road magazines left. Um, and that is simply because the industry has definitely shifted towards overlanding. So fortunately like. Overland Journal is a publication. We’re doing great. And we continue to grow. Yeah. Because the industry is growing, but, um, it’s sad to see four Wheeler.
Matt Scott: But off-roading is growing too, and I.
Scott Brady: In certain ways just not in that way.
Matt Scott: Yeah. They had a lot of redundancy in titles. And, you know, the magazine has got thinner and thinner and thinner and thinner. And the ad, you know, percentages seemed to just go up and up and it seemed like a lot of recycled content towards the end. You know, they had huge distribution and I, you know, they had, they had really great people. I mean, they had Sean Frick Holman.
Scott Brady: Exactly, yeah. Total talent.
Matt Scott: Huge, huge talent. And, you know, that dude would’ve done anything, but it just felt like he was in handcuffs or something.
Scott Brady: It seemed like it.
Matt Scott: Um, yeah. Because there’s no [00:06:00] reason that he couldn’t have made that work if, if, if allowed to.
Scott Brady: And I think he made it work a lot longer than anybody thought was possible. So, you know.
Matt Scott: And I don’t know what.
Scott Brady: Sean, Sean will go on to do great things.
Matt Scott: Yeah. Sean’s. A stellar talent in the industry.
Scott Brady: Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, we, I mean, loss of the loss of the four-Wheeler magazine, you know, and then personally, you know, I lost my mom and Uh, that happened in January of 22. And, and I, I look back and. My mom was always the one that liked to know what was over the next horizon. Um, you know, both of my parents were always so encouraging of me doing whatever it is that, that I liked, but my mom always had that Creative Spark. She was an artist and her dad was a chief warrant officer in the Marines and they traveled around the world. They lived in Guam and they traveled all over [00:07:00] the place. Yeah, she loved.
Matt Scott: That was your spark.
Scott Brady: Yeah. She’d be, she loved to be able to do that and she was always such an encouragement of me traveling. So for me personally, of course, that’s a huge loss and, and for those that are listening, , you know it when you lose a parent, it really does start to shift your perspective in some ways, and it just makes me all the more grateful for the time that I spend with people that I love, uh, doing things that I love. Uh, makes me even less interested in this stuff. So, um, you know, for me that was a pretty formative change and I’m just so proud of my family for, for how we’ve all come together. So, but uh, yeah, so, you know, that was a big change for me and then of course in 2022 we also lost the Land Cruiser . So like, you know, 2022 was not a great uh, year for North America in any way. Uh, you know, over landing we have more and more solutions. And you listen to Toyota and you listen to the executives at Toyota say that we’re all in on over [00:08:00] landing. That is a direct quote from the VP of marketing for Toyota North America. We are all in on over landing, and yet they removed the most significant over landing model, which is the Land Cruiser from the lineup.
Matt Scott: I, it just couldn’t compete in the US market. Right. Yeah. I mean, it, it, it was an expensive vehicle. It was, but it was, it was a vehicle that the expense came in, durability and quality. Not, um, you know, maybe short term, what’s hot now kind of thing.
Scott Brady: I mean, yeah, sure.
Matt Scott: Like Americans bought more convertible Ferrari than land.
Scott Brady: Yeah, sure.
Matt Scott: Like whenever I talk to Australian companies and they’re like, oh yeah, you know, cause obviously like I import stuff for, for a living. It’s, well, yeah, land cruise are this and land cruise are this. I’m like, dude, like there’s no market for it. Yeah. Like, oh, we sold 50,000 a year. I’m like, well we buy more convertible Ferrari than we do land cruisers. And that is a fact that is not a joke. Look it up. You know, it’s, it’s had, uh, [00:09:00]
Scott Brady: But we do get the LX 600, so it’s the Lexus version of the Land Cruiser that.
Matt Scott: That has like the Bain mask on the front.
Scott Brady: I know, yeah. I mean the, the, the Lexus design language that applies to their cars, which I think is very personal choice. It’s fine. Uh, but it does not translate. And you know, they have some models that are a little bit better.
Matt Scott: But like, I know people say like, we have the LX 600. I’m like, yeah, well, who cares?
Honestly, like.
Scott Brady: I like, I like it.
Matt Scott: It it makes sense. It drives nice like the lx. Yeah. Like it drives nice. It, it has great underpinnings, but you have to rip off so much of that vehicle.
Scott Brady: That’s true.
Matt Scott: That you’re taking now what is a hundred thousand dollars plus vehicle? and with labor and parts and everything these days you’re looking at 120, $130,000 vehicle to get something that. And you won’t rip its spoiler off on a curb.
Scott Brady: Well, and and now we have things like the Grenadier, so Yeah. But we have gladiators and we have grenadier and we [00:10:00] have all kinds of other great vehicles that are other options.
Matt Scott: They, they are talking about the 300. Coming back, I thought there were some news and some rumors. I saw some’s of stuff on lots of rumors, lots Roman from tfl. Kind of had a little scoop on that.
Scott Brady: There’s lots of rumors. I think what we’re going to see is, uh, an even more capable version of future forerunners. I think we’re. You know, the Toyota has a huge network of platforms that they can draw on to build interesting cars.
Matt Scott: 2022 is almost like, I mean this is maybe controversial, but like, is it the downturn of Toyota? Like, think about it, the Tundra launches to major problems. I mean, I think it’s the first time Consumer Reports didn’t recommend the tundra. Um, and they.
Scott Brady: They forgot to put toe hooks on the front of it.
Matt Scott: It’s like, yeah. Like they’ll, it’s like.
Scott Brady: There is no excuse that you can come up with where that makes sense. Period. It’s like, it’s just a mistake.
Matt Scott: They’ll probably, I mean, know they’ll [00:11:00] get it right. Um, but like the forerunner, like the, forerunner literally hasn’t changed. And yeah I mean, are we at a decade?
I mean, they did a, they did a than they did a new headlight in 2000.
Scott Brady: Yeah. More than they were more than a.
Matt Scott: 15?
Scott Brady: Were more than a decade.
Matt Scott: I mean, like they’re reliable. There’s a good aftermarket support for ’em.. They’re a great choice. But, um, the whole product line is long in the tooth. I mean, the Tacoma is just a redesigned previous generation.
Scott Brady: Yeah. And it got a new engine. But yeah, the chassis and the suspension architecture was all the stuff.
Matt Scott: I was skiing this week and I saw a prototype in Arizona of the new Ram. Uh, half, not half ton. I guess it’d be medium.
Scott Brady: Mid-size.
Matt Scott: Mid-size. Yeah. I mean, heavily camouflaged. You couldn’t see it. Anything other than it was a heavily camouflaged, like clearly it was, a STIs product cuz it was flanked by all of the STIs vehicles. [00:12:00] Manufacturer plates one of the most heavily camouflage vehicles I’ve seen since, I guess since going back to the gladiator. But you could tell a little bit more raked back windshield. It wasn’t a gladiator. Um, that makes, yeah.
Scott Brady: But they have the gladiator platform to draw from, but I guess that’s make a mid 20.
Matt Scott: That’s 2023. And I’m being naughty. We should go back in 2022.
Scott Brady: Yeah. So I think, I mean, and 2022 was definitely the year of, and so is 21 of over landing and it continues to grow. Toyota says, we’re all in on over landing. GM is now all.
Matt Scott: GM is the one that’s making the biggest strides.
Scott Brady: All in on over landing, and they’re making like all of these really honest vehicles, like you can go buy an AEV GMC, like this is crazy. Like it’s, yeah. You know, steel bumpers.
Matt Scott: Full size truck.
Scott Brady: Full size truck winch, capable multimatic suspension, front and rear lockers, 33 inch tall tires, rock sliders. I mean, it’s like, it’s really cool. There’s nothing, there’s nothing like it. So I, really, I had no idea there were that many [00:13:00] off-road enthusiasts at GM, but they are there and they’re very vocal. And again, this is, this is where it makes the difference. They start the AT4 lineup. They sell like crazy, it out actually starts to outpace the Denali line and they realize like, oh my gosh, we have to make more off-road capable vehicles cuz people buy ’em. So they’re realizing that and we’re seeing a lot more.
Matt Scott: I mean, they’re the company that’s all in on Overland.
Scott Brady: Yeah. I would also just compliment Toyota on like supporting people like. Like X overland. Yeah. Who they’re, they’re super legit overland travelers. They care about the industry. They started when the industry started, so Toyota is supporting big expeditions for x overland, which I think is. Just something to be complimented on. The Sequoia is low and wide, so it is meant for barge like activities, but it is very easy to lift and yeah, and put 35.
Matt Scott: No, I mean, I think [00:14:00] it looks good. I think the TRD Pro one, it looks really good. I think it’s cool that they’re doing that, but yeah.
Scott Brady: They’re gonna crush it with that. That’s a really great model. That’s a, I think that they got out of the gate with a, with a good solution on that. But again, we’re.
Matt Scott: The thing is, like you, you’re, you’re, you can make a change. Like these name plates, you know, if they would’ve called that something different, all of a sudden it has a, a different image that comes to mind.
Scott Brady: Uh, may maybe I, I think the Sequoia.
Matt Scott: Why did you buy, why did this, why do people buy Sequoias?
Scott Brady: Well, why did they buy them? Is because it was a seven passenger Toyota. Yeah. But then you look over Will, why will they buy?
Matt Scott: It’s like, gee, I wish I could have afforded the Land Cruiser. It’s like buying the Cayman as a nine 11. You know, like Jeremy Carson’s kind of said that as like, it just seemed like a weird. Price point kind of.
Scott Brady: Well, you can’t buy a Land Cruiser anymore.
Matt Scott: Yeah. Yeah.
Scott Brady: So, and they significantly improve the Sequoia, it’s a much better vehicle. Um, and it’s got a lot [00:15:00] of aftermarket support right out of the gate. So they’re gonna, they’re gonna do really well with that, but they need to make sure that the next vehicles that they come out with are the same. Like the, the, you know, from the previous Sequoia to the current one. It’s such a huge leap in huge performance and, and desirability and attractive, like everything across the board is just a way better vehicle. Um, and hopefully Toyota continues to do that, um, in, in my mind. But across the board you’ve got entire manufacturers, huge manufacturers, GM and Toyota, the two largest OEMs in the world, and they are both wanting to make a lot of overland vehicles. Yeah. So it’s pretty exciting.
Matt Scott: Yeah. I mean, you know, the, the Bronco Raptor is like crazy Cool. That’s another new one, I guess, for 2022. Yeah. I, I haven’t driven that one yet.
Scott Brady: I drove it. I drove it. Uh, it is not fair for me to be negative at all about that vehicle. Yeah. Because it has a very unique [00:16:00] application that does not align with any.
Matt Scott: It’s an off-road hoy vehicle.
Scott Brady: It doesn’t align with any of my values or my interests. I did like, um, and I do like the Bronco. So there are versions of the Bronco that I find very attractive and would even drive and own. Uh, that is not the one, so it’s just.
Matt Scott: I think that the, like the, the wild tra, I mean there’s like 12 different Broncos that you Get, it’s hard to say. Some of ’em just like already are aging really bad. I think like the, the, the ones, the wheel wells are too big for most of the models that people are buying. Um, I don’t know.
Scott Brady: I think they’re, I think they’re.
Matt Scott: You’ve got a bone to pick with Bronco.
Scott Brady: I think they’re awesome. So I, I really like ’em. I just don’t. I and I, this is probably the best way for me to describe it, is that we have consumer available vehicles [00:17:00] that are intended to be driving driven at speeds that the consumer is not trained properly to do. And that public roads never intended for them to drive. The speed limit in the National Forest is 25 miles an hour.
Matt Scott: I actually didn’t know that.
Scott Brady: 25 miles an hour. That’s the speed limit on a national Forest road. I am a felon in that house.
Scott Brady: Well, and so am I. It’s not.
Matt Scott: I have gone 27 mile hour.
Scott Brady: Well, it’s, it, and, and I, and I do drive faster than I should at times, but like it. We have to be really mindful of the fact that we have also responsibility there. We have to tread lightly. We have to be careful with other people that are on the trail. People are out walking their dogs, they’re riding bicycles. Uh, there’s grandparents driving around in, you know, in their Tacoma, and here comes this. The typical Raptor buyer is not a qualified operator of a vehicle. So the chall, that’s a challenge. [00:18:00] It’s a challenge. So I, and that’s, that’s not what this podcast is about, but it’s really, it really is a concern for me. Yeah. So I’m, I’m a little careful about promoting those kinds of vehicles because the manufacturer doesn’t take any responsibility about educating the consumer of their responsibilities when they use a vehicle that that’s, that’s that fast.
Matt Scott: Yeah, power’s great. But knowing how to use it and when to use it. I mean, like that trx I had, I think it was mental. Yeah. I mean it was, it was crazy. Yeah, it was crazy fun. But like, really the problem is like, I think, you know, we’re in this age of like, go fast over landing. Not go fast campers. Like, but like my, my overland truck has to be a rock crawler. A Baja 1000 truck. Scott Brady: The cool thing about doing all that stuff to your truck is that you don’t actually have to spend any energy traveling anywhere. So that’s the, that’s the dichotomy of today is that we have this enormous [00:19:00] amount of energy that is spent and money. That is spent on stuff and accessories and this, this impression of capability. Mm. And no one gets training and no one actually travels anywhere. Very few do. So, um, that, but that will shift, that’s common to.
Matt Scott: I think the breaks are already at, the middle to the end of 2022. I think we started to see the brakes get put on that. Um, you know, like this unbridled spending in, in the. You know, it, all of a sudden, I mean, like I go back to when I started working for you in 2010, 2011. It was like if you had a new car that was just like, like, oh my gosh.
Scott Brady: It was unheard of.
Matt Scott: It was unheard of.
Scott Brady: Yeah. There’s nothing wrong with spending money on your vehicle. Uh, and you know, we can maybe talk about, these are some of the, the philosophical considerations that I had after 2022 is that in our life we’re trying to balance. wealth, and we’re trying to balance [00:20:00] experiences and we’re trying to balance our time. We’re trying to balance our health, and I think anytime those things get out of balance, that you end up with this very dysfunctional result. So there’s nothing wrong with buying accessories for your vehicle, but if you’re spending more money on the vehicle and the accessories than you do on the experiences, then that will be something you will regret later on in life.
Matt Scott: And it just, it always remains true of all the people I talked to and I, you know, I’ve met a lot of just wonderful people through this community. But I wish I had the money to travel. It’s like something that so many people say. And then I look at, you know, add up what they’ve spent. And I’m like. Well, you do have the money to travel. You just need to prioritize it. Scott Brady: That’s right.
Matt Scott: Right. And I, and I do see this trend starting to happen of less extravagant vehicles. Um, simpler vehicles. I’m like, I’m seeing a [00:21:00] lot more crossovers. I’m seeing a lot more vans. Things that enable people to get out. And it’s like the, I feel like the, um, the guys that had the Honda Civics with the wings, That all of a sudden had kids and got into overlanding. They’re now like, they’re, they’re onto the next thing. It’s, it’s just a trend and it’s left, you know, the, core people that actually want to go and do stuff. And I, and I have to wonder, um, you know, if, if that’s not gonna be better for everybody.
Scott Brady: I think it will, I think that people are becoming more aware of, of just being, you know, honest with themselves about what they really want. But if you look back at like a, Dan GRE that he leaves Canada in his two-door SoftTop Jeep and he drives all the way down to the end of South America.
Matt Scott: Well, we all want to be Dan Gre.
Scott Brady: Exactly. Because the guy, he went and had the experiences and you know, it’s [00:22:00] like when you people say, I wish I had more money. Well, would you trade places with Warren Buffet today? He’s worth a hundred billion dollars. Would you trade places with Warren Buffet Today? Most people are gonna say no because the guy has an expiration date that’s coming up quickly. He’s 91, 92 years old. Hmm. How much of that a hundred billion dollars can he actually enjoy at that stage in life? At the end of the day, all we really have is time and experiences with the people that we want to do things with, and if we’re willing to give up time cuz every time you buy something, you’ve had to trade some of your time that you worked for it. So how much of my time am I willing to trade for this gadget? Or how much of my time am I willing to trade for something that is just a signaling device, um, as opposed to actually having an experience? And so, that’s why you and I like to go and go do things. We, we want to go have [00:23:00] experiences.
Matt Scott: I started, I started like doing things in the last year or two and just not telling people about them.
Scott Brady: Yeah, sure.
Matt Scott: Like I feel like people you know, if it doesn’t happen on Instagram, it, it didn’t happen. Yeah in, in this space sometimes. Um, you know, I encourage people to go camping and Leave your camera. Turn your phone off.
Scott Brady: Yeah. That’s an, that’s a good idea.
Matt Scott: Figure out how to feel.
Scott Brady: Yeah. And so I think, I think, um, that’s a positive thing that I’ve seen is people are getting out and traveling and people are talking about where they want to go again. Richard and Ashley, they’re shipping their vehicle over to Europe and they’re getting ready to travel. Matt Scott: They are just the cutest people in the world.
Scott Brady: Of course they are, and, and so you’ve got all of these people that are saying, okay, we’re gonna go do this. And we’re gonna not. Like they, they chose to use the tundra that they already had. They certainly could have waited and bought a more expensive vehicle and all that other stuff, but they said we’re gonna go. And I think that that’s something that’s really encouraging for me to see. So. Yeah. And I also think that 2022 was kind of the year of tech within Overland for [00:24:00] sure too. So one of the most significant developments. Personally affected me in so many positive ways was the availability of mobile starlink. So I spent my entire summer driving around in my, you know, AT4 with a scout camper, and.
Matt Scott: Scotty got all boho chic on us.
Scott Brady: Well, I just, I like just camped out every night and, and I could work and, and the starlink enabled me to be at 9,000 feet up in the aspen trees with not a soul in sight, and I could do the work.
Matt Scott: It’s such a cool technology.
Scott Brady: Yeah, it’s a huge.
Matt Scott: And it’s gonna continue to expand. You know, right at the end of last year, we also, you know, there’s, I guess there’s been three different starlink dishes. There was round dishy. Scott Brady: Yes. Which, yep.
Matt Scott: Square dishy.
Scott Brady: Yep, that’s right.
Matt Scott: And now we have the, the Mountable InMotion High performance dish.
Scott Brady: That’s right.
Matt Scott: I guess is what they call it.
Scott Brady: That’s right.
Matt Scott: Um, which is still sitting in, uh, in my garage that I need to install. [00:25:00]
Scott Brady: And they work on a sailboat and they work on an RV and they work on a, you know, whatever in motion as well. So the ability to do knowledge work remotely from like a whole new, a whole new definition of remote. So you’re not just in the cabin where you’ve got, still have internet connection. You’re anywhere you want to be. And, and that is, it’s, it’s so exciting for me, it’s personally so, exciting to be able to.
Matt Scott: And it’s, it’s reliable technology too.
Scott Brady: Yeah. It’s, I use it every single day. And, um, you know, where I live, I’ve got starlink and when I travel, I got starlink. It’s a different dish. I got starlink. And, and I use it every single day. Uh, and it’s incredibly reliable. Very little downtime.
Matt Scott: Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, I think that that has the, I think like for Van Life, like, I think that that’s gonna, I think that the industry is gonna continue to move more towards these live-in vehicles or offroad trailers or whatever, [00:26:00] because it’s a paradigm shifter of all of a sudden I don’t have to be, I don’t have to be sitting at home. And, and you know, people have been able to work remotely for a while, you know, with cellular based stuff, but it was only so good. And you, like, you noticed certain area. , like, uh, one of my favorite parts of the desert in Arizona is around Wickenburg. It’s this unique, um, unique combination of a little bit higher of elevation, so it’s a little bit cooler. You get the drainage from like Hassayampa River, so it’s pretty lush.
Scott Brady: Oh yeah.
Matt Scott: But there’s like two or three places out there that, I mean, it’s like tent city because there’s a cell tower there. Yeah. Now I, the last time I was down there, you know, and we’re in that season of boondocking, which is awesome. People can go a little bit further and I think that, you know, it, it, it will almost as, as [00:27:00] Overland becomes more popular, and I mean, not even just as overlanding, as boondocking. Rv, this, this mobile lifestyle becomes more. It allows people to disperse a little bit more, which places less strain on, you know, very specific places.
Scott Brady: It totally does. Like, so for I, I’ve been traveling recently. With this Explorer trailer, it’s an X145.
Matt Scott: Oh, that’s the one that you were charging the.
Scott Brady: Yeah, I actually charged the tow vehicle, the, I was towing it with a Rivian. I was able to charge the Rivian from the trailer. So 1,080 am powers of lithium ion batteries. It’s got a thousand watts of solar on it. Uh, and so yeah, I, I pulled it out into a remote area outside of Wickenburg. It was absolutely stunning. Right along the boundary of a wilderness area. There’s not a cell tower or cell reception in sight, which means there’s no other people. And I set [00:28:00] this thing up. Got it. You know, leveled and, and I spent days working and just hiking, enjoying it. Got rainy. So yeah, the, the new trailers and the new and the new campers are just awesome. I mean, this is, this is definitely the most Scotty approved trailer.
Matt Scott: I like it.
Scott Brady: I’ve ever used. Yeah, so it’s got a, it’s got the cruise master suspension underneath it from Australia. It’s super robust. Platform has a dry bath, so you can actually spend like weeks living out of the thing, which is kind of a game changer.
Matt Scott: You know I love a dry bath.
Scott Brady: Yeah, exactly.
Matt Scott: Yeah. It’s just sometimes a wet toilet gets old.
Scott Brady: Yeah, well it’s just like if you’re gonna, if you’re gonna go live remotely, yeah. Sometimes you need a few creature comforts if you want to be working. So, you know, it’s like I choose to work remotely and, and that is totally feasible for me. So I think that that’s a big deal. Obviously [00:29:00] EVs are another huge development around technology.
Matt Scott: It’s like the year that the EV started to get taken seriously.
Scott Brady: Oh, for sure. Yeah. 25,000. Uh, Rivian were produced in 2022. Um, we drove them, drove both models. They’re, they provided us with no compensation. They’re not an advertiser, but the Rivian R1T, um, is just an amazing truck. The R1S, the suv, it’s one of the finest SUVs I’ve ever driven of any kind.
Matt Scott: They’re really good.
Scott Brady: Yeah, they’re really, really good.
Matt Scott: They’re good looking. As opposed to the Hummer. The Hummer obviously is like impressive performance and whatever.
Scott Brady: For me, it like the, the rivian are just like, if I was to design an ev, it would be wet. Matt Scott: It’s the size of a first gen tundra.
Scott Brady: It is. It’s per, it’s perfect. Like, yeah, it’s perfect. And I love the interior. It’s like a Herman Miller chair on the inside. The design is very simple and elegant, and they’re very capable off road. So, you know, this [00:30:00] like EVs, as far as I’m concerned, like we’ve gotta remove this political stuff. The biggest mistake that’s happened around EV was this whole regulation of, of internal combustion vehicles in California. Like, like that is the worst thing that could have ever happened to EVs. Cuz now people are gonna feel like, why are you telling me what to buy? Which, yeah.
Matt Scott: You cannot tell Americans what to do.
Scott Brady: Well cuz it’s also a bad idea. Yeah. Like let the consumer choice dictate which products are gonna be successful in the marketplace.
Matt Scott: When California did that, I’m, I’m sure if you like watched your home value on Zillow, it probably jumped immediately after that. I mean, yeah you can, you can really like internal combustion engines.
Scott Brady: Which I do.
Matt Scott: Yeah. And like electric cars, like.
Scott Brady: Of course this whole ev hate thing is, it’s just hilarious to me. But of course, you know, it, it’s the way that people, people have to be.
Matt Scott: Well a lot of times.
Scott Brady: So polarized.
Matt Scott: People only read headlines. And then we get in, we we’re [00:31:00] like victims of the algorithm, right? And, and people just get in this.
Scott Brady: Yeah. Reinforces.
Matt Scott: The feedback loop of, of the same things. And I also think that a lot of the information that people are, are reading is, I’m not going to say inaccurate, but very outdated. A lot of the things that people are saying about, you know, the lifespan of EV batteries and the recyclability and whatever, that was very true 10 years ago.
Scott Brady: It’s no longer true.
Matt Scott: Five years ago. Yeah. Um, you know.
Scott Brady: And there, and it’s going to, you think about it, the first version of the iPhone was pretty good, the current version of the iPhone is, it’s amazing that it even exists. It does. Every else.
Matt Scott: I don’t charge my battery anymore.,like I charge it at night and like.
Scott Brady: Yeah, I know. And, and so they’re gonna, they’re gonna resolve all this stuff around EVs. It’s not gonna be for everybody, but we were interested how they worked. So we drove the Hummer over El Camino del Diablo, which is the longest.
Matt Scott: Which is an accomplishment.
Scott Brady: Yeah. It’s the, it’s the longest unsupported [00:32:00] overland route in the 48 states, and then we drove the Rivian R1S to the most remote point that you can access on a dirt road in the United States. So to say that you can’t overland an EV is obviously ridiculous. So you can come up with some obscure use case that nobody actually ever does that maybe an EV wouldn’t do well at. But, uh, to me it’s just not a big, it’s just not a big deal. The infras, the infrastructure’s a problem.
Matt Scott: Well, yeah, exactly right.
Scott Brady: So EVs are not the problem. The infrastructure’s the problem we’re charging. Another thing on the tech side is, iPhone now has an SOS feature. So those who have a 14 pro of any variety, you now have the ability to do SOS from your iPhone. So we’re seeing more and more support for remote travel. Through the use of technology. So if you have a starlink and an iPhone, you now have some redundancy around remote communication. Um, and it’s just built into the phone that [00:33:00] you use.
Matt Scott: I never thought about what that will do to, like the necessity for inReach or the necessity for the SPOT devices like that was something that I hadn’t really explored.
Scott Brady: Well, currently it’s not a better solution because an inReach allows you to do non-emergency communications. So you can, you can, you know, update your family. You know, like even make some decisions around work, there’s a lot that can be done, uh, from an inReach. Uh, Eventually the phone will have two-way communication.
Matt Scott: So I would be quick into my boots if that was my model.
Scott Brady: Yeah, yeah, exactly. But they’re gonna figure that stuff out too. We’re gonna see an inReach and a watch before we know it. So to be able to have a smart watch from Garmin with an inReach capability built into it. That’s pretty awesome. Um, you know, they’re already working. Garmin and Android are already working together on a program for Android phones and Android devices to incorporate satellite communication. So it’s gonna just continue to improve, which all enables us to [00:34:00] travel more effectively, which is, which is awesome. Well, you know, let’s, let’s go to like, just fun stuff. So like, what was your favorite new gadget for this year? Like, and it has like, let’s pick a non overland gadget. Like what was your favorite thing that you got this year, and then what’s, what was been, what’s been your, like your favorite Overland gadget?
Matt Scott: Hmm. Man, you’re putting me on the spot here. You go first.
Scott Brady: Okay, so the, this Dometic water system. It’s awesome. Yeah, it’s like, did it take that long to figure out like the easiest way to have running water in your camper or what? And I use it in the scout and it’s charges by usb It’s, and it’s just the, the, the tanks are square and they’re smaller, and so I’m super impressed by that thing.
Matt Scott: Yeah, you get the little, the [00:35:00] tappy thing.
Scott Brady: Yeah. It’s just amazing. Yeah, it’s amazing. So that one I’m super impressed by. Matt Scott: Okay. This is like incredibly obscure, but I really like tools and uh, motion Pro makes the seal puller that has like a little, uh, pokey thing on one side. We’re gonna put a link to it. It’s like $12. I use it like daily. Sorry, but that’s, that’s my favorite gadget. Like I.
Scott Brady: The seal puller.
Matt Scott: The seal puller.
Scott Brady: I like it.
Matt Scott: I can take radiator hoses off really quickly. It’s a, it’s a motorcycle tool. But I use it for everything. Like you’re trying to get little, sorry, I know that, that is incredibly, uh, boring.
Scott Brady: No, it’s not boring. It’s what you like.
Matt Scott: But that, like, as far as a gadget, I mean, that, that’s my thing is favorite, like, like thing that I acquired in 22, I really love my Leica SL two.
Scott Brady: Yeah, I thought you’d say that. Um, it’s beautiful.
Matt Scott: Yeah. You know, I had shot Cannon for a long time [00:36:00] and not necessarily having to work or have profit associated to my images is when I really started to dive into like, I mean, I’ve been in a Leica for probably 10 years now, but on the Rangefinder m. So I finally decided, okay, well I love the ethos of this company. I love the build quality. I like how, you know, um, the lenses that I’m buying are, I don’t want to say investment pieces. Cause I think the word investment is just way overused. I mean, It’s like what you say to your wife to justify buying something. This car is an investment. I’m like, yeah, okay. I use that one too, buddy. Um, but you know, they, they last for a long time. The, the L Mount Alliance is Panasonic Sigma and Leica now. So if there’s an obscure, you know, the problem with working with Aleka was always, if you need a particular lens for something, um, the lens is gonna be more than what you’re gonna [00:37:00] you know, making a month of shooting sometimes. Um, so it was very hard to justify, but it, now if I need to get a weird wide angle or a tilt shift or this or that or, whatever, I can, I can buy the Panasonic version or I can buy the Sigma version. Um, obviously you buy like a for the glass, so I did the 50 millimeter sum luxe, the 24 to 90 Vario Elmar, and the 90 to two 80, and I have the range.
Scott Brady: You’re set.
Matt Scott: And I, again, gadgets and, and stuff is cool, but going back to travel is, you know, as you know, we’re young. I’m 32 and, um, we’re starting to fill out our home together. And, um, we’re planning trips, you know, we’re going and saying, oh, we want to cactus landscape on, on that wall. So now, we’re going and we’re, we’re taking the [00:38:00] roamer route and we’re, we’re gonna create a memory that’s on the wall with the camera.
Scott Brady: That’s awesome. I love that.
Matt Scotta: No, listen, like, like us are a luxury. I get that. You don’t need that to create good images, but that’s my.
Scott Brady: It’s something that you like.
Matt Scott: I like it. Um, and you know, and 10 years of collecting rangefinder lenses, I haven’t lost a scent on any of them.
Scott Brady: Yeah, that’s good.
Matt Scott: So, you know.
Scott Brady: Another thing that I was, you know, I look back on the year and I was super impressed by is that three liter turbo diesel in my truck. I was just, just the other day I was looking down at my average miles per gallon over a 400 mile sample.
Matt Scott: Because you got that in 22 as well, right?
Scott Brady: I did, I did. Yeah. Well, in, actually, I got it in 21.
Matt Scott: Oh, okay.
Scott Brady: So I got it in 21. And the, yeah, the, um, the miles per gallon was 23 miles to the gallon average over 400 miles. That’s on 35s with a [00:39:00] three and a half inch lift over a stock height.
Matt Scott: What was the lifetime?
Scott Brady: No, for the last 4, for the last 400 mile. For the last 400 miles. 23 miles to the gallon.
Matt Scott: That’s crazy.
Scott Brady: It’s a full size truck on 35s with a three and a half inch lift and crew cab, six and a half foot bed, and 23 miles of the gallon average, which in some of that average included towing that trailer. Some of that average is interstate. Some of it’s city driving. Like, I mean, I’ve definitely, like when I’m on like a 55 mile an hour road, I’ve seen high twenties out of that. So like, it’s pretty amazing to me.
Matt Scott: I like that truck. It’s the right size. You have a six and a half foot bed. So you have the same bed that’s on the prospector. You get you know, better gas mileage. Well, I mean, one second.
Scott Brady: You have four, you have forties.
Matt Scott: So yeah, that, that was, that was probably my favorite car that I know. It wasn’t, you know, my, the wagon was my favorite one, [00:40:00] but my favorite overland thing was, um, I had always wanted a prospector. And the, the stars finally aligned for me. You know, that thing continues to impress me. I get 15 to 16 on it. I get about 14 towing a race trailer. It just goes, it’s comfortable, it’s quiet.
Scott Brady: It’s impressive.
Matt Scott: Like it, it works. I, I’m about to re-register it. Which is something I don’t know.
Scott Brady: Yeah, that’s, that’s quite the statement for you to have a car line.
Matt Scott: Pickup trucks. We both have pickup trucks.
Scott Brady: Yeah. And I get it now. Like I never got it before, but now I get it. Yeah. Like the best daily driver I’ve ever had is a full size.
Matt Scott: They’re just.
Scott Brady: American made.
Matt Scott: It’s such a competitive segment.
Scott Brady: It’s good. It’s really good.
Matt Scott: You know, that’s how you end up with this three liter diesel thing. Like Um, it’s kind of a shame that Ford’s diesel didn’t really go anywhere, but it was also from [00:41:00] Jaguar. Scott Brady: Yeah. And it, and they, they didn’t pair it with the right transmission and then they also had a really efficient turbo V6. So it was really close in miles.
Matt Scott:Their eco boosts motor is, yeah, it’s really good. Is the chef’s kiss?
Scott Brady: It is, yeah. So you’re not, you’re not really incentivized. But, uh, if I was to compare it to the, to the V8 for this same truck, I would never pick the v8. I don’t like, it’s a, I don’t like. Matt Scott: It’s LS three.
Scott Brady: I don’t know. I don’t, I don’t care for it.
Matt Scott: 6.2 liter thing.
Scott Brady: It’s, it’s loud and inefficient and doesn’t feel any more powerful than my diesel, and I get twice the gas mileage, so.
Matt Scott: It’s a really nice truck. Super quiet inside too.
Scott Brady: Yeah. It’s like just a incredibly.
Matt Scott: like GMCs are like, he automatically sealed. And are like.
Scott Brady: It’s, it’s a luxury truck brand and it feels like it when you drive it. It’s just like a really, I got You know, air conditioned seats and a heated steering wheel and like it’s got heads up display and all the gadgets, which.
Matt Scott: The heated steering wheel is a game changer. I know for us, that’s for us in Arizona that suffer through very, very cold temperatures. . Yeah, there’s, well it [00:42:00] gets cold here. There’s somebody in North Dakota that’s watching this and is laughing.
Scott Brady: That’s their summer high. Yeah, exactly.
Matt Scott: Cold.
Scott Brady: Exactly. Yeah. So, um, what do you have going into 2023 for vehicle projects? Like what? Like what are you focusing on in 23? You’ve been tinkering with the G wagon.
Matt Scott: The world’s slowest G wagon. Yeah. Yeah. I have a, I have a 1991 W463 G Wagon, and for two years only, they made them with a manual transmission. Um, it was imported out of Germany. Yeah. So I, I’ve been working on this thing and, and it’s really just been a, you know, I’ve pulled in the garage, you know, I crack a beer. Like, okay, like I’m gonna clean this door hinge. I’m really trying to kind of bring it back because the cool thing with the G wagon is that they’re so well made. Oftentimes it’s just a matter of cleaning and service. To, to keep them going.
Scott Brady: Yeah. That’s how I kept mine going for 12 years.
Matt Scott: It, it has a [00:43:00] hundred horsepower. And 142 pound feet of torque. And it weighs probably as much as my prospector.
Scott Brady: They’re heavy over 5,000 pounds.
Matt Scott: Yeah. You know, the, the, the doors, like you could kick it and it would be fine. Um, but it has that very eighties Mercedes feel, even though it was made in 91. And it’s just, it’s fun to actually like really drive something.
Scott Brady: I think. I think it’s awesome.
Matt Scott: It puts a smile on my face. It was, um, as far as G wagons go, a comparative bargain, um, you know, G Wagons have particularly during the pandemic, they’re the, the Gucci handbag.
Scott Brady: Of SUVs.
Matt Scott: Of SUVs, yeah. Um, which the, the cool thing is in like five or 10 years when all of these people move on to the next thing, and all of these G wagons are just gonna be sitting there on the market. We’ll have all these fantastic, you know, trucks, um, they’re just always in the weirdest colors for overlanding. Like, they’re either like black or pearl. [00:44:00] Um, this one’s just purple.
Scott Brady: Yeah. Purple or something.
Matt Scott: You know, obviously Scott and I love G’s. But yeah, that’s, that’s been really fun. And then I also have a 1965, BMW R 50/2 that I’ve been working on, and I keep that in Chicago with my dad. And it’s been a really nice project to be able to fly out and each time we tackle something like we’re working on, uh, carburetor tuning now and realize that uh, you know, float was bad and, um, kind of the carb slides messed up and we had to buy some new parts.
So the next time I come back, but I think I’m gonna try and ride that Route 66.
Scott Brady: Oh, that’d be awesome.
Matt Scott: Yeah. And that one has, it’s, it’s, um, it’s, it’s very slow.
Scott Brady: Yeah. It’s awesome.
Matt Scott: But it’s so good. I bought the BMW reissued a toolkit for it, and I changed the oil, rebuilt the carburetors. Did everything just with the [00:45:00] factory, well, quasi factory toolkit that fits in a little compartment behind the, the rubber knee pad in the tank. So you have this vehicle, you know, you’re talking kind of, this, the, the idea of classic over landing to me has become really my focus I guess in 2023. That, and, you know, grand touring in classic vehicles. Um, you know, we’ve talked about on the podcast before that a. A lot more poor people are doing overlanding than ever. And, um, you know, the, uh, the world’s a lot more paved than it used to be. So that opens up new opportunities for vehicle based exploration. Scott Brady: Totally. Yeah.
Matt Scott: I’m working on this.
Scott Brady: The classic road trip.
Matt Scott: Yeah. This 68 911. So it’s the first. There’s any Porsche geeks out there. Um, it’s the first 911 generation. It’s a, a short wheel base. Um, so it’s kind of the, I’m not gonna say the purest 911, but no radio, no nothing in [00:46:00] it. It weighs, it’s had some things stripped out of it. It weighs about 2100 pounds and it’s just.
Scott Brady: It’s beautiful smile. It’s beautiful, it’s gorgeous.
Matt Scott: And I’m trying to figure out where we.
Scott Brady: It’s one of the most beautiful cars I’ve ever seen.
Matt Scott: But again, it’s, it’s all about for me, like I, I do feel fortunate to be in a place to have these cool toys but if you don’t get out and use the cool toys, what’s the point. Right? You. Scott Brady: Yeah. You know, it’s all about experiences.
Matt Scott: It’s about the experiences and I happen to love cars and the experiences that they bring me.
Scott Brady: Yeah. And the connections and the the community that comes around it.
Matt Scott: 2022 is also kind of the year of offroad Porsches, I guess.
Scott Brady: Yeah, I know. Which is.
Matt Scott: I’m gonna hijack this until that, Porsches but we had the, the 911 decar.
Scott Brady: Yeah. I don’t even know who, um.
Matt Scott: That was a cool project. Uh, that has max tracks on it. Shameless plug. and uh, you know, this off-road cayenne thing has become like a [00:47:00] movement. It has because you can go and get a cayenne. I mean, I kid you not like go on Craigslist or I say Craigslist, but I mean by that is go on Facebook or whatever. You can get a, a pretty decent cayenne for 5 to $7,000 and for like a thousand bucks you can lift it and put 30 threes on it. And it is like a rally car. I mean, Porsche came out and said that the, the lineage of the 959 is the cayenne. 959 is a hyper limited production. 1980s, uh, super sports car. But those things have like blown up and they’re affordable and I love it. I, I like how the Tacoma is the bougie thing and the Porsche is like cheap and affordable. It drives some people nuts. But they have a locking rear differential. They have low range. They’re cool.
Scott Brady: Airbag suspension.
Matt Scott: And then like Safari 911. Very, very trendy, very on trend right now. [00:48:00]
Scott Brady: Well the, the only Porsche I ever or Porsche that I ever think about and, and lust after is that white 68 that you’ve got. That’s an amazing, beautiful vehicle.
Matt Scott: My dad warned me about Porsche people when I was young. He’s like, oh, all they care about is the build sheet and the specifications, and they go to Porsche Club meets in there, and I’m. I’ve realized in 2022, I am the Porsche person my dad warned me about. So, yeah, but I think, you know, anyways, my, my little project, grand Touring, eccentric kind of classic vehicles, older vehicles that, um, you know, you can hop in the prospector or whatever and you’re so isolated from the experience. Not to say that that’s bad. But just something new. Like we’ve all, we’ve both been doing this for a while, you longer than I.
Scott Brady: Well, and I, I’m looking at what project would be next, and I just, I just don’t know. I, I think maybe [00:49:00] it would be a gladiator. Uh, maybe it’ll be a full size, heavy duty. But actually right now, I, everything that I’m considering buying or doing goes through this filter. Is this where I want to spend my time? And if you spend money, you’re also spending time. That’s the most important thing to remember is every dollar that you spend, or every a hundred dollars that you spend is worth X amount of your life, your, your life energy, your, yep.
Matt Scott: You don’t come back.
Scott Brady: You don’t get it back. So it costs, let’s say, a certain number of hours to make a hundred dollars or, you know, for some people it’s maybe one hour or whatever, but, um, It takes a certain amount of your time to get that a hundred dollars to then spend it on whatever. And so for me, I’m just, I’m just not feeling motivated to spend time on things.
Matt Scott: Well, you have the freedom to go and do, you know.
Scott Brady: And it’s, but it’s been a very intentional process. And it’s required a lot of, of giving up other things. I don’t have a [00:50:00] dog, which I love dogs, but I don’t have a dog because I want to, I want to have, you know, I guess the goal for me in 2023 is to just be able to be my own sovereign individual. Which means that I get to wake up in the morning and I get to do the things that I love. Which happens to still be my job. Yeah. Uh, but that, um, so I’m not really willing to sacrifice that for any things. So I might, uh, might not have, I might just keep driving the defender around and, but that’s where I think I like some of these factory capable vehicles is then you could buy something stock, leave it stock, and then just go have experiences with it. Matt Scott: It’s the Grenadier Manam.
Scott Brady: Yeah. The Grenadier or, or a.
Matt Scott: Well, honestly. Or a Grenadier or anything. AEV.
Scott Brady: Yep, exactly. It’s just all that stuff’s great.
Matt Scott: Done and I think that, you know, we really in, in, in 2022 started to [00:51:00] see you know, just the availability of turnkey packages. Because it’s not really that easy to build something on your own these days. I mean, shops are, you know, particularly, it’s not as bad now, but looking back at the last two years during the Covid thing, you know, if you wanted King Shocks for your truck.
Scott Brady: It wasn’t possible.
Matt Scott: It was like you’re, you ordered ’em, you ordered them, you know, when restaurants were still closed. And you just got ’em last week. So it’s so attractive to just, I’ll take that one I’ll take, you know, whatever camper. Um, have you seen those Super Tramp campers?
Scott Brady: Yeah, those are nice. In fact, I used one. It’s great.
Matt Scott: How was it? They look really cool.
Scott Brady: Yeah. Super simple. Um, really nice. Build quality small business. They really care about the product. Uh, yeah, they’re, they’re very, they’re very, very cool.
Matt Scott: I just think like stuff like [00:52:00] that, like, uh, moving, elevating the truck camper is gonna be an emerging market this year. And after that.
Scott Brady: Because it also just really works. Yeah, it really, really does work and, and I think 23 is also gonna see a lot of people getting back out and traveling. We’re seeing a lot of people hitting the road and that I’m very excited about. So there’s gonna be stories for us to tell on the podcast. And the podcast is done really well. We’re getting close to our one-millionth download. We’re so lucky to have Paula Burr, our producer who.
Matt Scott: Paula’s dope.
Scott Brady: Yeah. Dope. She’s, yeah, she is dope, uh, because she makes all of this possible. She keeps me on track, keeps Matt on track, and we produce a high-quality result because of her care and energy that she puts into the podcast. And Matt, thanks for you being on the podcast and putting in your energy and expressing your opinions. I think that.
Matt Scott: I do have opinions.
Scott Brady: But I like, I like the fact that you [00:53:00] say what you think because there’s, there’s a lot of filters and that doesn’t protect anyone. Our Alaska podcast, we got a bunch of feedback that we didn’t just say Alaska was perfect. There are times that of the year that Alaska is better than others. But there’s also truths that need to be told to help people understand this is what you’re gonna, you might experience, uh, when you go do this overland trip on your own. So that’s where, for us, we’re gonna continue to focus on a journalistic perspective, which means we’re gonna always be open and honest about our experiences, even if they’re contrary to popular opinions.
Matt Scott: Yeah, I think, I think it’s important to, I don’t know, I do have strong opinions sometimes but.
Scott Brady: Well, and I think so. Strong opinions. This is my take on it. Strong opinions are critical, but they need to be loosely held. So strong opinions firmly held. That’s arrogance and and ignorance. So that’s the flat earther. Strong [00:54:00] opinion, strongly held.
Matt Scott: I think it’s the ability to, to change your opinion.
Scott Brady: That’s right. So strong opinion loosely held. Which means that I feel strongly about this, or this has been my experience, but if someone shows me something different or I have a different experience from it and I’m constantly learning and I’m growing, which means I’m changing my opinions, strong opinions loosely held is the way that we want to go about it. And that’s what allows us to continue to be a student. We get to learn, we get to continue to grow.
Matt Scott: I mean, I’m a walking contradiction. I completely understand that I’m the guy. You know, says buy less stuff, but I’m the guy that has a lot of stuff. I get it. But I do both. And it’s fun.
Scott Brady: Well, and it’s just, it’s about being intentional about our decisions. So like, why.
Matt Scott: Buy the stuff if it gives you the experience?
Scott Brady: Of course. Or if it brings you joy in some way. So we, we really appreciate you all listening. It’s been 2022 has been a formative year for the industry. So much has happened. There’s so much to look [00:55:00] back on, but your feedback is so critical.
Matt Scott: Super critical. So please put me in check. Yeah, please. Otherwise, I ramble.
Scott Brady: Well please reach out so Matt people can find you on Instagram. How’s that?
Matt Scott: Matt Explore?
Scott Brady: That’s right.
Matt Scott: Sometimes I’m not on it though.
Scott Brady: Yeah, that’s okay.
Matt Scott: Like I’m, I’m currently take, like, I think it’s good to take breaks from social media. Scott Brady: Of course it is. Yeah. It’s super important. And you can reach me, Scott dot a dot Brady on Instagram as well. You can reach out on any of our social media channels, at Overland Journal on Instagram to give feedback, ask questions. We just really wanna support our audience and we also want your feedback on the topics that you’d like to hear, or things that you’d like to see different. Uh, you matter a lot to us. We do this because we love it, and, uh, and we appreciate you all listening and we’ll talk to you next time.