Show notes and Summary for podcast #163. In the random show podcast, Scott Brady and Matt Scott riff on recent happenings in the overland sphere, including Matt getting stuck in the EarthRoamer, Scott getting stuck in the Grenadier, Matt going to Goodwood, buying a Tesla, and Scott ranting about payload again. . .
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
Checkout some history from GOODWOOD. 75 years ago, and for more information hit the link for the website
*photos from GOODWOOD Road and Racing website*
website: GOODWOOD ROAD & RACING
Check out new Garmin watches, hit the link.
website: GARMIN
Scotts new Light phone
website: LIGHT PHONE
Starlink Unique Compnonentry helping Scott get some connectivity in Africa.
website: STARLINK UNIQUE COMPONENTRY
Transcript
*transcript is unedited*
Scott Brady: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the Overland Journal podcast. I’m your host, Scott Brady, and I’m joined today by my co host, Matt Scott. And we’re kind of calling this the fall mashup or the. Great Scott episode. So we’re going to go through all the things that Matt’s been up to, that I’ve been up to some vehicle evaluations, including the new AEV AT4X GMC.
We’re going to talk about Matt getting stuck in his earthroamer, which is an entertaining conversation. We’re going to talk a little bit about my trip in Africa. We’re also just going to talk about upcoming trips, other things that are planned in the Overland universe. So enjoy that conversation. And I want to take a little bit more time.
This just came in a few minutes ago, and I just want to thank the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum. We’ve talked about the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum many times on this podcast, [00:01:00] but. It is one of the most remarkable institutions for not only Toyotas, but for overlanding in the world. My good friend, Greg Miller has been instrumental in creating this place for so many of us to gather and celebrate that iconic platform called the Land Cruiser, but it also holds such a special and dear place in my heart.
Because many of the vehicles that Greg and I used on the expedition seven trip to go around the world are also stored in the museum, including the Hilux that we used to cross Antarctica, go into the South pole and also used to cross the Greenland ice sheet. But my surprise today was actually. An award that the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum and the Toyota community just provided to us.
This is just a very special consideration for me to receive. It is called the Toyota Legends and they’ve brought me into that very rarefied air. I’m not so sure that I’m deserving of it when you consider the other people that have been awarded [00:02:00] this honor like Kurt Williams and others. Just a huge amount of gratitude for me to the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum, to the Toyota community for honoring me in this way as a Toyota legend.
I have certainly trusted my life to Toyotas throughout the decades, and this is a great honor for me. Thank you, Greg. Thank you, the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum, and thank you to the other Toyota enthusiasts that provided me with this award. 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 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.[00:03:00]
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 at overlandjournal. com. Well, welcome to the podcast, Matt and I are finally back at the podcast desk together on the same continent.
That’s right. And we were going to call this the random show, but we also thought about maybe calling this great Scott, great Scott from the back to the future reference. But it turns out that great Scott, actually it’s an interjection of surprise, amazement or dismay, which I think. covers most of our emotions during a podcast.
It’s a distinct but inoffensive exclamation popular in the second half of the 19th century in the early 20th century. And it’s now considered dated me at least, but it’s, it originated as a minced oath historically associated with two [00:04:00] specifics, the Scots, which I think is very appropriate given us and the Scottish author.
Sir, Walter Scott, and later the U. S. General Winfield Scott. So, given that you’re Matt Scott and I’m Scott Brady, we’re the team of first names, maybe we call it Great Scott. So maybe the audience can chime in on if our quarterly random shows should just be called Great Scott
Matt Scott: I was thinking maybe our next one would be named after janitorial products because both Scott and Brady. Make the little urinal doilies.
Scott Brady: That’s true, that’s true. That’s how I know I’ve achieved greatness. Is that my namesake has been used in urinals around the world. That’s what I’ve been hoping to achieve, Matt. So we’re going to talk through gadgets, trips, cars. Maybe some deep thoughts, a couple audience questions, but I really would love to start with some of this stuff that you’ve been up to recently, because I find it so cool.
Matt Scott: Like Goodwood, , let’s talk about Goodwood was awesome. I mean, I guess the overarching theme for for this year [00:05:00] for me has been a return to racing. I grew up racing, started the day before my fifth birthday in a, in a quarter midget. Raced until late teens and then got into this overlanding thing and now I’m returning had an opportunity with with my, my good buddy Eli to kind of come over to Goodwood with him.
He was racing in the it was a series for 2 liter short wheelbase, 9 11s. And sounds sporty. Yeah. Really cool. We both have them here. He bought one there. Boy, it was a, just a crazy cool event to be able to, to be able to experience that, you know, in the pits. And it’s such a, a race that’s steeped in history.
I want to say it was, it was kind of, it started after world war two. Okay. It’s basically built around this, this grass airfield, the Goodwood aerodrome and it’s. All right hand turns aside from well, I guess one when you come through the chicane onto the main straight, you know, low grip track.
It is a period. Correct track where they [00:06:00] run vintage race cars down to the tires. Like, and does it
Scott Brady: run rain or shine?
Matt Scott: It runs rain or shine. So, I mean, there were, there were very, very valuable Ferraris out there running in the rain on Sunday you know, on this, on this track, like actually like getting at it, you know, I think there’s kind of this misconception with the racing at Goodwood that it’s more of a. Leisure cruise. These guys aren’t on a leisure cruise. They’re, they’re wrecking cars.
Scott Brady: I mean, once you put, once you put a bunch of, a bunch of guys with a bunch of money and a bunch of fast cars on a track, it’s going to be a race.
Matt Scott: I mean, we were trying to figure out the value of the cars. That were, that were actively racing the bread van, which is a Ferrari 250 GTO.
That kind of almost looks like a little bit of a station wagon. One of one is out there like wheel to wheel. And it’s not, they’re, they’re sent if, if they find, if they find a little gap, they’re going for it. And that car, you could ask whatever you want for. Cause it’s one of one, but you know, the billionaire that already owns it.
What, what else, what can you give [00:07:00] them other than that car? Sure. Karen Chandock, who’s a formula one racer, X formula one racer. He blew up another two 50 GTO. No big deal. That’s what they’re there for their race cars.
Scott Brady: But you know, the, the thing that, that good, what’s really known for is the period dress and, and you’re in this, it just all the tweed and leather and canvas, it’s like, it does it for me, man.
So, so the class that, that Eli was in that, you know, I was kind of hanging out with. They were sixties cars, so like I dressed sixties and I, I had this Yeah, you could totally pull that off. Yeah. I had kind of the, with the
stash and
everything.
Matt Scott: Yeah. it, it was awesome. I, you know, I, I, I had the, the right hat and I had this corduroy suit, ah, blue suit with I, I actually
Scott Brady: Do we have photos of this, Matt?
Matt Scott: Yeah. Okay. But it was so hot. It was, you know, mid eighties, that’s hot, full sun. That’s hot for there. Really, really humid in the uk and they don’t have air conditioning really anywhere. Sure. ’cause it’s generally not that hot there. Sure. You know, so it was, it was a warm [00:08:00] one, so I wasn’t really wearing when you were in the pits or kind of the paddock, like you’re meant to have like a, like a suit and tie on.
And I think they really kind of stopped enforcing that this year because it was a bit a little toasty, a little, a little toasty. So, Goodwood is so cool. You, you really end up the, the word daydream gets thrown around because they actually have kind of period actors going around. Like there’s these two, these two women that you and I kept kind of running into and they were these chatty 1950s English women all in period talking in period, you know, kind of in your face.
Scott Brady: But there was, there was so many of these really immersive experiences. Everybody was there for the love of the cars.
Matt Scott: Yeah. It’s an enthusiast event. It’s not just like this high brow. Signaling event. Never, never in my life. Did I think that I would see Mr. Bean that much Rowan Atkinson, legitimate racer. Like we were in, I didn’t know that.
Yeah. So, so we had [00:09:00] Mr. Bean getting after it. I love it. He’s a well known racer. I didn’t know that. Yeah. We were in the Rolex drivers club because we had drivers credentials and the people that you would see in there are like, I look around and it’s like, you know, the, the Duke of Richmond talking to Jimmy Johnson, NASCAR champion, talking to Jensen Button.
We were with Chris Harris from Top Gear. He was Eli’s co driver. So we’re hanging out with him all weekend. Amazing. All I can tell you is that genuine car guy. Yeah. He never mentioned Top Gear once the entire weekend, you know, never, no ego to this guy. Yeah. As somebody who grew up watching Top Gear and the Clarkson era, then Chris Evans, I guess, took it over.
Sure. Who was there as well? It’s, it’s in solid hands now and it kind of feels good. Yeah. I’m just a genuine guy. That’s awesome. So many cool people around. Boy, I want to go back. Like, I want to go back and race the Chichester Cup. So those are kind of, I particularly like either prototypes or open wheel cars.
And that is… Basically these sub 1100 cc formula junior cars that are from [00:10:00] early sixties. And those things just, you know, they’re, the tires are four or five inches wide and it’s just sliding around. Everything slides around on that track. Sure. Brings me back to. Like sprint car days as a kid, except turning, I’m not an ambi turner yet.
Oh man. If you have a chance to go to Goodwood, go. I think it’s about a one day event to be honest. I think two days, unless you’re racing is maybe a little much, but if you get the opportunity to hop over, I know that, you know, a lot of Americans that listen to this podcast are familiar with the Goodwood revival.
Scott Brady: It is just, it is a top notch event. And for you, and I know it would be for me, it’s just such a, like, it feels like a bucket list thing to do for an automotive enthusiast, for somebody who loves cars to be at that place where everybody’s taking it so serious yet not so serious, like everybody’s in period, everybody’s.
Matt Scott: There for the love of the vehicles. So taking it serious, but not taking themselves too serious in the class that Eli was racing. You had two formula one guys, you know, your Jensen button, you had Mark Weber, you had Max Chilton, [00:11:00] British touring car. You had all of these professional drivers mixed with the owners of the cars.
Sure. They kind of had to share a seat time. So you had to do a pit stop, both in qualifying and in the race. And, you know, you’re just, you’re just in this environment and where am I?
Scott Brady: Oh, what a fun experience, Matt. And it’s just something that I have such respect for you for is there are people in our industry that write about vehicles that take the time to get the training necessary to do so with authority and to do so with perspective, with professional perspective, like Brian door recently.
Going through the dirt fish program, you know, the rally program, that’s someone who takes testing vehicles seriously enough that he’s going to get the training necessary to actually be able to speak with authority about an automobile. And unfortunately, that’s just not the case for the vast majority. So I have a lot of respect for you and the fact that you’re constantly pushing your love for vehicles while you’re also advancing your skills.
Matt Scott: Yeah. Yeah. Cause I’ve been [00:12:00] doing, you know, I’ve been kind of involved with the Lucas oil racing school. And isn’t your uncle involved somehow? Yeah. Yeah. My uncle’s one of my
Scott Brady: instructors. And doesn’t that bring, but that doesn’t that bring it full circle for you? Cause you worked with your uncle when you were five and then now you’re back working with your uncle.
Matt Scott: You know, the coolest thing is, is, was being at Sebring. And I want to say this was in June to kind of the first step of getting my licensing back and getting into a car because it is a, it is a skill of, you know, diminishing reward. Like if you don’t use it. it goes away. And the last time that all three of us were at Sebring, I was like in my dad’s arms in the pits at Sebring, probably at the 12 hour or something, and you know, to be able to recreate that environment and experience.
And then, you know, I spent a few days at mid Ohio and then did a few, a few races at mid Ohio. I’m the old guy, which is weird because I’m 33 and I’m racing against these, Kids with just immense talent that are, you know, trying to get into [00:13:00] Indy. And, you know, there’s a weight disadvantage and a massive skill, skill gap, but to see, to see the dedication again, really kind of brings back that, that passion and, you know, to have my track dad back to be there the entire time is cool.
Scott Brady: Oh, Matt. I mean, we think about so many people spend so much energy on things that don’t draw them closer to their family. And for you to be intentional about, I’m going to fly to, I mean, that’s the only reason why you would fly to the middle of the United States is to go race cars and spend time with your family.
Matt Scott: And you’re literally like, I’m going to, you’re not going to Lexington, Ohio for the food.
Scott Brady: No. But you’re spending days with your uncle and days with your dad. And that, I mean, you cannot put a price tag on that. And the amount of energy that, so I mean myself included, I think about the time, the things that bring me the greatest joy are doing things that I love. So experiences with people that I love. And all the rest of it is such BS and the fact that you get the chance to do that with your uncle that taught [00:14:00] you early on, he had an incredible career as a driver instructor and working for all these premium brands.
Matt Scott: When you look at the people that are on the IndyCar paddock that he’s coached, worked with, it’s, it’s really impressive.
So cool. So, and then next year, Radical Cup. So it’s a support series for IndyCar. That’s the goal to try and. You know, by next year, get my skills and, and see time to the point where, you know, I’ll be able to jump into the lower levels of that series.
Scott Brady: And, and you have the race car now
Matt Scott: bought a radical, going to run that next week for the first time, bought it a month or two ago, but I like to equate Arizona as reverse winter, you know, our tracks in the desert.
Yeah. Can’t you wouldn’t dare, you wouldn’t dare run when it’s 120 degrees. No way. So see poor next week. First time on track. See where it goes. It’ll be interesting to drive something that has real downforce. So
Scott Brady: what an amazing experience, man. That’s so, and I think it’s really smart for you to do that as opposed [00:15:00] to some of these cars that you have that are so special.
Yeah. To expose them to the risks of racing.
Matt Scott: Well, one, they’re not race cars, right? Yeah. I mean the 993 Turbo that I have, for those of you who don’t know, it’s the last air cooled turbocharged Porsche that was made. I hate to say investment when it, when it comes to cars, but you do have to consider that, you know, I don’t have unlimited funds like some of these guys do.
That, that’s the thing that you really realize with racing is, it is about cubic cash and you have to put yourself into a place. Like I did radical because I could do the servicing myself, like it has a Hayabusa motor, kind of a spec engine and any, any series where there’s a little bit more of an open rule book means an open checkbook and talent doesn’t always win.
Yeah, sure. But yeah, you wouldn’t want to, you wouldn’t want to really convert a 993 turbo or like my short wheelbase into a actual race car. Yeah. Yeah. Even though. I, I might end up doing that to the short wheelbase after after
Scott Brady: Goodwood. Oh man. So it’s such a beautiful car.
Matt Scott: Jeez, man. But you know, I think it, it, it [00:16:00] definitely, like I’m, I’m a novice.
I don’t want to pretend or say that I have some kind of crazy talent, but you notice more things when you’re reviewing a car and when you hop into a seat that, yeah, I think that most don’t. Unfortunately, you know, it’s cool that Brian’s taking the time to educate himself on, on, on improving the skills because there’s so many, there’s so many writers out there that when you’re on the program with them, yeah,
Scott Brady: we’ve been on the press launches with
Matt Scott: them, it’s terrifying, you know, they, they can’t get the thing into low range and then they’re, you know, you read the story and it’s like they’re you know, they all of a sudden became Rod Hall, you know, they’re just, yeah.
Scott Brady: Yeah. It’s a bit disingenuous. They’re crafting a story. Yeah. Which it’s just an encouragement to like, take the time to get the training and understand that nobody’s, nobody’s perfect. Nobody’s Mario and ready, but you know, nobody’s, you know, Ivan Stewart. It’s just, it’s about the more skills that you get, like Brian has done where you then have a better insight into how a vehicle [00:17:00] performs.
And I have Joe Bacall to thank for that. I mean, Joe was the off road test driver for Toyota for over a decade. And if you spend. Months with that guy, you’re going to learn some things that really help translate to a good evaluation of vehicles. I think,
Matt Scott: I think it would be cool for us to do an off road race.
Yeah,
Scott Brady: let’s do it. I’m hooked. Especially a vintage one would be really fun. Yeah, like the Nora would be really, really cool. That’d be something I’d be totally into. You know,
Matt Scott: I think it’s, there’s some cool things going on with that event. Yeah, I really like it.
Scott Brady: Yeah. Sinway’s had some great luck with it and enjoyed it.
Matt Scott: He’s running. He’ll go down there with the Myers Manks and the Myers Manks guys do it, but he’s mine and such great people. So
Scott Brady: that’d be a fun thing to let’s do it. Let’s just, we just got to find the car. Let’s just make it happen. Let’s just make it happen. That’s an awesome update. I mean, what an incredible event to go to.
It ties in, people were thinking, maybe like, how does relate to overlanding? It is exactly what it relates to overlanding, which is you’re in a vehicle or you’re celebrating vehicles while you’re traveling internationally, you know, engaging [00:18:00] with the culture of automobiles in the UK. Certainly it’s not like a roof tent on a dirt road, but it is all
Matt Scott: about, we want the roof tent with the dirt road.
It makes me appreciate it that much more. I think, you know, without getting too personal, like we’ve both been doing this for so long, you longer than me, but. Like literally my entire adult life. You know, I’m 33 now. I joined Dexter from portal and built my first land over when I was 16. It’s nice to kind of have a little break and a little perspective.
Maybe I definitely noticed myself getting maybe a little jaded on some things with the industry growing and. Going in this different direction and it just tunes the noise out and everybody’s literally on their own track, and you just focus on your line and you just move forward and you don’t really worry about what everybody else is doing.
That’s the, the
Scott Brady: key to it, I think, is the comparative. Yeah. So don’t compare your travels to the next person. Competitive
Matt Scott: overlanding thing like drives me crazy. And I realized that, but I think
Scott Brady: it’s the influencer culture. I think everybody’s making an attempt [00:19:00] to do the stake in the ground, to get some followers.
But as we’ve seen, even in the last six months, there’s been a mass exodus of influencer behavior because they’re just, they’re not making any money. So, and they never really did. So they kind of maxed out the credit cards and you can’t, you can’t pay your mortgage with new, with free gear. So I think we’re just, what we’re seeing left.
The folks that are left with the people who have been in it long enough or have enough value to
Matt Scott: offer that they’ve stuck around for it. You know, it’s it, camping is, is an inherently non competitive activity. Sure. Overlanding. Is a non competitive activity. Yeah, it does feel like sometimes people think it’s a race.
Yeah, it’s not. It’s not a race to see who can go to the most places or take the most things off, off the box. It’s a, it’s really about what’s inside and what makes you happy. And if you’re not happy doing it and it’s not fulfilling you and it doesn’t bring you joy, just because it looks good on the internet, on your Instagram account [00:20:00] doesn’t mean you should be doing it.
Scott Brady: And it’s not, that’s not real life. My Instagram accounts, not real life. There’s days that I have really hard days when I’m traveling. Yeah. I miss my family or I had a hell of a border crossing or whatever. And all of those things happen. Yeah. And I try to include those in my posts, but it’s, it just, you don’t end up including enough of the suffering.
Matt Scott: People also don’t really want to hear too much of the negative. Yeah. I think I probably went a little too negative on my Alaska trip, but it was also just in the moment, like it. Sucked. Yeah, it didn’t. And it sucks to be in a box for 45 days during, you know, this long heat wave and bugs and all this stuff.
I mean, it’s part of the challenge and you kind of have to forget the tough moments, but nobody wants to just, everybody wants to hear how great it is sometimes.
Scott Brady: The people are great. That’s the thing that’s been the universal experience for me and my travels is that the people are always incredible and the, and that’s what made me not want to leave Africa was just the, [00:21:00] the incredible thoughtfulness, joy, openness of the people of Africa.
Matt Scott: I’m just stoked that you’re. You’re slowing down. Oh, yeah. I think so much. This has always been work for you and me. And it’s like you, you, you have a job to do and you have a timeline and you have this opportunity. The opportunity that you have is you have this vehicle for a year. Yeah. And you’re like, actually taking advantage of that.
Like the Scotty I knew 10 years ago would have been in London by now. Yeah, that’s right. That’s right. You know, now it’s like, oh yeah, I’m actually going to turn around because that area was great.
Scott Brady: Yeah. I’m going to go back to it. Yeah. And I think it’s the first time I’ve ever been able to do that. And I remember, I actually remember the moment it was I was in Mozambique in this beautiful place on the beach and I’m sitting there, Joe wasn’t feeling well and I was just sitting out looking at the waves and I’m thinking about the schedule and you know, should we try to push right now to get to London?
And I just, I asked myself, what is the rush? What’s the rush? So at that moment I decided that I’m going to take three [00:22:00] times longer. Yeah, I dig it though. So yeah, it’s just, I’m very grateful for that opportunity. It’s, I’m just in a place in my life where I can do that. So I’m just really grateful to be able to go at it different.
And that’s not for everybody. There’s nothing wrong with going fast. If you need to, there’s nothing wrong with taking three years to do the same trip. That’s going to take me one year there.
Matt Scott: Everybody gets their own flavor and you really care. I think you learn time is such a luxury and the ability to have the money to do something, but also the time to do it.
Yeah. You know, I think as I, as I get older, I realized that money doesn’t equate to happiness. No. The years that I’ve made my financially, financially the best years. Probably personally were the worst years. There’s like a sacrifice of of yourself to get that. Like there’s there’s always a risk to get the reward.
I don’t know. I always go back to like I’m so envious of people who haven’t figured out enough that they can kind of perpetually go. They’re almost like they live life on a different time scale. And [00:23:00] that is like, so like, I’m still young and I think that is like a goal for me is, you know, at a certain point, slow down and hop in the earth drummer when you come back, I don’t know, I guess I see a lot of these younger couples and like the expedition vehicles and they’re just, they’re just going, they’re meandering, they’re
Scott Brady: meandering, you know, and, and that is the true definition of wealth.
It’s being able to do what you want to do when you want to do it. Yeah. People attach numbers. To it, which there are many people that are rich that are not wealthy, which means that they make a lot of money. They have very little cash and they’re completely committed to continuing to make a lot of money.
And which means that they can’t go where they want to go and they can’t do what they want to do when they want to do it. But you can tell when someone has kind of cracked the code, which means that they’ve given up on the things that don’t matter and they’re focusing on the things that they love the most and they’re able to do it when they want to do it.
And that, to me, that is the definition of wealth. And it brings actually to mind a book that I’ve been reading which is called 4, [00:24:00] 000 weeks. And that’s basically the number of weeks that we have on an average lifespan. When you start to really, it’s a, it’s kind of an anti productivity book. Because there’s so many great productivity books that lets you kind of hack to get the maximum amount of things done.
But if you actually sit down like I did in Mozambique and ask myself, why am I trying to get everything done all at one time? Even the things that don’t matter or don’t even move the ball forward, but just because I feel obligated to do them, then you start to recalibrate. In my mind, I started to recalibrate what were the most important things for me.
And then I started to take each week a little bit more precious.
Matt Scott: So, yeah, I mean, it’s so easy to, to just blow through a week, how many of us are just. Yeah.
Scott Brady: And you only get so many of them.
Matt Scott: Today’s Thursday when we’re recording this. Yeah. Still in my mind, I’m like, I can’t wait for this day to be over because then tomorrow’s Friday.
Yeah. And then I can’t wait for Friday to be over because then that’s, that’s Saturday. Yeah.
Scott Brady: The future focus, which is common. It’s something that I struggle with too, Matt. Yeah. And it’s, [00:25:00] and I think I’m always thinking about what’s the next cool thing that I’m going to do. And sometimes it takes me away from the amazing opportunity that I have in that moment.
And so I’m trying to be a little more present, which is really
Matt Scott: hard for me. I do want to put the caveat that, you know, There’s just realities for people’s lives, you know, like a lot of people just don’t time is that that’s super big luxury. And, you know, I don’t want to be conceited by saying like, oh, well, just just take off and travel, you know, that’s not reality for everybody.
But I do think that it’s doable. I really do. You know, I think that when you’re traveling, I mean, you’ve been doing a lot more international stuff. Than I have. But you come across people and you know, they’re traveling on they’re, they’re traveling on what the interest on a modern car loan, average car loan is every day.
Yeah, for sure. They took the dedication, they knew what they wanted. Mm-hmm. , they lived very frugally. You know, they lived with their parents that lived in a studio, whatever it is to be able to do that. And I think like when you get out of the rat race, you get out of the U. S. Cause the U. S. has become really expensive.
I mean, U. S. and Europe [00:26:00] now are like, again, just being in London a couple of days ago. It’s,
Scott Brady: it’s when you spend 22 bucks on a G and T it’s expensive. Yeah.
Matt Scott: Yeah. But then you go to. Mexico, or you go to Africa, or you go to wherever, you know, whatever that first jumping off point is. No, I
was in life goes further.
Scott Brady: Was in Malawi looking over the lake, eating fresh fish and vegetables that have been locally grown these carrots that were like this super bright orange, amazing. locally grown potatoes and a G and T and my bill was 6 and 50 cents. So it’s all a matter of perspective and it’s also a matter of choice.
And I think that if we all take some personal responsibility about we could choose to do something different, there may be big consequences to that choice, but it’s about taking ownership of that. I can make a choice. It’s like the Japanese Zen Buddhist monk that the bells came across in Africa. He travels with no money and he’s traveling around the world.
He’s gone around the world with no money. He does not keep money on him. He [00:27:00] uses it momentarily if it’s given to him. And then he, he travels around the world with no money, you know, or the, the Russian hitchhiker that I came across in Central Asia. And she left, see all of central, all of the stands with five bucks.
And she teaches English. She stops and works for a while. And so it’s always a choice and there’s something really empowering about saying that. I’m choosing to not do that, but I could if I wanted to. And that kind of takes away some of that feeling of being trapped. And it’s interesting,
Matt Scott: you know, the first thing that went into my head is I’m like, Oh yeah, but you need a 401k and you need an IRA and you need this and you need that and all these things for modern life.
But then I started going back and I’m like, okay, when I was young and I was like really traveling and the people that I met that were putting it all out there to travel, how many of them? Run their own companies now are like wildly successful. Like you look at, remember the taxi guys, one’s a best selling author.
One, two of them own a successful tech startup companies. One of them’s a, [00:28:00] you know, commercial helicopter pilots that just left everything behind to drive around the world in a granted year. Again, the world works itself out and it’s almost like there’s this education of travel and there’s this almost like.
Scott Brady: Risk intolerance level, kind of go back to what I said earlier is there’s always risk to have the reward and you learn how to manage the risk and you get comfortable with risk and you just get more competent because you’re dealing with new people all the time, new challenges all the time. You just get more effective.
Let’s talk about gadgets. Let’s talk about gadgets. Is there, is there anything new that you’ve been using that you’re kind of digging on? Oh, I’m
Matt Scott: thinking gadget.
Scott Brady: It looks like you move. It looks like you move from the Apple watch to the Garmin
Matt Scott: watch. I did the same Apple watch. Yeah. It didn’t work for me.
It was just too intrusive in my life. Yeah. And you have to
Scott Brady: charge it constantly. I charge
Matt Scott: this thing like once. A month, once in a while, like I’ve
Scott Brady: got, yeah, I’ve got 22 days left. Yeah.
Matt Scott: Yeah. So, so I dig this, [00:29:00] you know, I get my step goals and all that kind of stuff. Make sure I’m moving. I like it
Scott Brady: for the sleep because of the travel.
It really helps me calibrate, like if, what time should I be eating? Should I not have a drink a little bit later in the evening? Because I find that my life improves significantly when my sleep improves significantly. So I use it primarily for sleep. You
Matt Scott: know, okay. So it’s a big gadget and I’m going to, I’m going to, I’m going to lump it into the same way that a a, a really nice dishwasher or something.
Okay. Your
Scott Brady: life. Is it’s a Tesla spot. That is a big gadget, but it is totally a gadget. It’s
Matt Scott: totally a gadget. I bought a model Y performance. I like
Scott Brady: the model Y the best. I think it looks the best from my perspective,
Matt Scott: the decision you kind of tell me it’s the decision I made that freed up so many decisions.
I don’t have to unlock the car. I don’t have to find my keys in the morning. I don’t have to turn on the radio station. I don’t have to turn on climate. Like all of this stuff just happens. Like you just get in the car and it’s transport. I plug it in. When I get home, it charges [00:30:00] overnight, costs me about, you know, anywhere from a 1.
50 to 2. 50 a day in electricity, so less than. A gallon of gas. It has this pet mode, dog mode. Because it’s all about Dak. It’s all about the, all about the Greyhound. It’s the, yeah, it’s the Dakmobile. Please consider adopting or rescuing a Greyhound. It, it has this big screen. It actually comes up, you know my driver will be right back.
It’s 66 degrees in here and the air conditioning is on. And it has a little camera and it streams what’s going on inside of the car to my phone. And it’s just such a general, like genuinely useful thing. I really,
Scott Brady: that was a tough transition from you going from a Mercedes. What was a
Matt Scott: 60 AMG 63 S estate or wagon, which may be one of the best internal combustion, daily driving, practical, fast cars.
Ever made, and it feels like it is a horse and buggy compared to the Tesla. Like I’m just being like really honest because I see so much hate about [00:31:00] these things. And I realized that Tesla doesn’t do press programs. So true. Yeah. So you get all of these journalists that hate. And I know we’ve talked about this before, but the reality of most automotive writers that you’re reading stuff, they’re being flown business or first class to Europe, picked up in a luxury car to take them to their hotel where they can put whatever they want in the room.
You know, they’re winding down in the best places and beautiful locales. And, and, and there’s, These people are on the road 24 7 living like this millionaire billionaire lifestyle and Everybody but Tesla does that I kind of like I kept my wagon cuz I’m like like maybe this isn’t gonna be for me But I have like the I have the power walls and the solar so I’m like closed loop for my energy now Cause yeah, Arizona has a lot of sun and the climate’s doing funky things right now.
We should probably should make some changes, especially with my lifestyle. Anyway, I thought I was, I thought it was going to be bad. Cause you just hear all these [00:32:00] bad things. It’s, it has fewer rattles than my new MG wagon did faster has nice materials inside, like everything that I love the interior, everything that people say about them, it’s just honest.
It’s interesting to me because I keep thinking, I’m like. Hmm. And it’s one of the best selling cars in the world right now. I think it’s the best selling sedan in the world. Yeah. Like they’re just generally looking at all of the other manufacturers. EVs. They’re just. It’s way far behind. They don’t have the charging infrastructure.
The Tesla has like a trunk in the back and a trunk in the front and it has all this space. I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did. It’s really handsome. I love that color. And it really just makes me question a lot of what I read now. Yeah. Because you then think like, why is everybody saying that this is so bad?
And why, and it just makes you think that everybody else in the automotive industry, like let’s talk from like a manufacturer level, is so insecure that at all of these events, They’re downloading all of this hate for this car company. [00:33:00] That’s one of the most American made cars you can buy. You know, it’s, it’s one of the most innovative car companies in the world.
And it happens to be American. In my case, it’s powered by renewable energy. It’s renewable the way to say it.
Scott Brady: Solar. I
Matt Scott: don’t know. You have, yeah, you’ve taken. Yeah. The sun. Yeah. And you convert it to miles. Miles in your Tesla oil. The oil well on my roof. Yeah. Charger. I need to start to think of all these special interests that are, their livelihood depends on this type of vehicle not being successful.
Scott Brady: Sure. And you kind of start to that and you’re, you’re not saving the world with an electric vehicle. I think that’s really important to note. But you are improving the quality of your life significantly without really any more impact to the planet than buying another new car that’s internal combustion.
You save time.
Matt Scott: There’s so much misinformation, like when I see journalists write about it and then I see them on, you know, Russia Times as the, the, the reporter and then I see them at, you know, some, you know, BP event. I’m like, Oh, this is all starting to make sense. Gotcha. So that was an interesting eye opener and maybe a little.[00:34:00]
A little deep for gadgets. Yeah, exactly. So let’s talk about the polar opposite of my other new car, which is the seven three super duty So came from bruce dorn who’s been a podcast a good mutual friend of ours original owner seven three f250 Such a great california and arizona car been with him his entire life and i’m doing this period correct build on it And i’m really excited by it because this was When I was going to the racetrack as a kid this was the car that I was in.
It was an excursion, same interior. Like the front door has this little dip for the mirror. And I remember as a kid putting my feet in that, I mean, now like my knee wouldn’t fit in there, but it’s just so like sentimental and. It’s, it’s kind of, you know, I guess it fits into that kind of, you know, in the collector car world, it would be of the era of the young timer is what they call them.
Scott Brady: It’s legendary, legendary engine.
Matt Scott: It just works. So that will be an interesting project to kind of see unfold. I’m putting 2016 axles underneath it.
Scott Brady: I [00:35:00] saw them out back in the, in the in the crates.
Matt Scott: As factory as can be a front coil suspension. So it won’t turn like. The Exxon Valdez, we’re going to go through some power upgrades.
Banks makes a carb compliant kit that is about a hundred horsepower and 200 pound feet of torque has all the EO numbers, which is, which is important to me. I like clean air. Yeah, sure. I think it’s cool to breathe.
Scott Brady: That’s just, it’s just like just being a good human being, but yeah, take taking out all the,
Matt Scott: you know, it had some wiring funk going on with it.
You know, it was like two remote start systems and. Bobby at Red, Red or Dead Fabrication in town has been really going through it and kind of restoring this car because I’ll tell you, I tried to buy a new F 250, one, you can’t, like, two, they’re like 100, 000 for like a well equipped Lariat, like I’m not talking King ranch, platinum or limited that goes on top of that.
And then you’re doing that at eight, 9 percent on a car loan. They can’t make enough of them. Cause you can’t, you literally can’t still [00:36:00] buy one. And I’m like, you know what? No, good choice. I’m just going to
Matt Scott: buy a single last and make it last. You needed a pickup. I needed a pickup. I don’t want it. I don’t really want to drive a pickup truck every day.
Scott Brady: Well, and not only that, but it’s like, it’s still going to be a pickup, even if you put a really nice interior in it. So
Matt Scott: yeah, it’s got Shieldman’s in it from Bruce. I put a new ARB bumper on it. I was able to buy all the trims and, and, and things. And
Scott Brady: awesome. No, it looks so good. It’s just like a legit overland vehicle.
You can do whatever you want with it. So that’s the
Matt Scott: plan is just kind of take the principle of how somebody would build a land cruiser like a 70 series Recognize that this is this is our 70 series as close as we got. Yeah Have some fun with it and take it on some cool trips.
Scott Brady: It’ll run any diesel anywhere in the world.
I think it’ll
Matt Scott: be a cool Baja truck. It’ll do a race trailer. What about you gadgets? You you’ve been, you were in that four by E for a while. Yeah, I
Scott Brady: really liked the four by E. I’m a huge fan of that whole configuration for a lot of reasons without getting too technical on it. But where we live in [00:37:00] Prescott.
The vast majority of the driving that I do is, can be accomplished in less than 20 miles round trip. So the four by E is the perfect kind of set up for me because I can go all electric when I’m in town. But then if you want to go do a road trip or you want to drive to Mexico or wherever, you can just add fuel and you just keep, keep rolling.
So there’s a lot that I like about the four by E. I think it’s my favorite. Electrified vehicle. Now I haven’t spent time in a Tesla yet, but I have a lot of respect for it. I really, I really like the Rivian a lot, but I found that like in my personal use case, I cannot get from my office to my little sailboat in the slip in Roosevelt and back on one charge and there’s not good charging infrastructure along the way.
So it just doesn’t work for me. Whereas a four by E, I leave with a full charge. I get 28, 29 miles of the gallon. If you leave with a full charge and I can go anywhere I want to go. So for [00:38:00] me, it really works. I like the four by E. I also spent some time in the GMC AT4X AEV edition, which it’s, it’s such a tidy half ton pickup like package.
I would say it’s the best half ton pickup. Package out there period with one caveat is that I think if I remember correctly, the payload was a thousand and thirty pounds or maybe a thousand and fifty pounds. So when we use a pickup truck, like, so let’s take example, like the two of us. So the two of us together.
We’re pushing 500 pounds between the two of us, you know, call it 450, whatever you want to call it. And then you and I want to take two motorcycles. We can’t do that. We cannot take two motorcycles and two buddies with the payload that’s available in that truck. So one of the things that I would love to see is as these, I call them like an ultra overlander, where they’re really mindful of performance and accessories and packaging.
They still have to be [00:39:00] mindful of. The payload of the vehicle. So a half ton truck needs to be able to have 14 to 1700 pounds. Minimum
Matt Scott: payload in there. Half ton. Yeah. 1000 pounds.
Scott Brady: I know, but that’s, that’s no, it’s true. It’s just never been literal. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It’s never
Matt Scott: been literal. So It is interesting because I think that’s when we were checking the door tag on that.
And then didn’t we go check the door tag on my, my AMG wagon and it was the same or the wagon was slightly more, it was within, it was within a little bit. It’s very, which is
Scott Brady: shocking. It’s shocking. And so here’s another perfect example. They have really good tow ratings. These half ton trucks can tow 10, 11, 12, 000 pounds.
No problem. They tow that kind of weight really well, but the majority of these. trailers that you’re going to use, especially like an overland trailer, they have three, four, five, 600 pounds of tongue weight on them. They say that they shouldn’t have more than 500, but once people load all their stuff in there, you end up with about a 500 pound tongue weight.
So if [00:40:00] you. Put 500 pounds on the trailer hitch. You’ve now taken 500 pounds out of your payload. It doesn’t go against gross combined vehicle weight rating. It goes against payload because it is resting on the suspension of the vehicle. Worst
Matt Scott: place. Super,
Scott Brady: a ton of leverage, really far back. So again, like if you’ve got a family of four and you want to tow a big trailer, you cannot do that.
So, incredible vehicle. I’m super impressed by the performance. Front and rear lockers. It’s going to have the diesel.
Matt Scott: It’s going to… Yeah, because the one you tested, the one we had here had the six liter. It did. It, yeah, like, I feel like we really quickly went from like, yeah, I want that old school V8 to like, wow, that feels like somebody flipped the switch and it just feels kind of outdated.
It does. You drive that versus… Let’s say the EcoBoost that’s in the F 150 or Raptor and you realize, Ooh, turbos torque. And that’s what you really want on the street.
Scott Brady: Or you just want the diesel and it has a three liter turbo diesel available. That’s same one that I have in the [00:41:00] AT4 that I’ve got. And it’s that motor is great and it’s now going to be available with a diesel.
So I would just love to see the manufacturers mindful of payload. It’s just really easy to get like even that, even that Wrangler four by E that I was driving, it had an 830 pound payload. So now that’s a little bit more appropriate in a wagon, but again, If you wanted to tow a small trailer or if you wanna put a couple, you know, put your family in there, you’re gonna be at payload.
My, my prospect
Matt Scott: without any gear XL was 1600 pounds.
Scott Brady: Yeah. Which, that’s, you know, that’s okay. ’cause it’s got a ton of access. I could
Matt Scott: accessories on it. I could’ve done the 3,500 and then I would’ve had eight Squillion. Yeah. Five.
Scott Brady: There’s a bunch of options with the bit with the full size trucks like the heavy duty full size So so that was but I really like it.
It’s a great truck with a diesel. It’s gonna be a total winner Yeah driven a lot of other vehicles. I just spent some time in the North America spec [00:42:00] Grenadier I was really impressed to see it talked to kill. Yeah, two kilowatt inverter with outlets in the center console and in the back So there’s a lot of power available in it.
It’s a it’s definitely a more refined vehicle than the one that I’ve been driving, which was early prototype production. So they, they’re just, they’re paying attention. I have a lot of time in the Grenadier and I don’t want to, I don’t want to overemphasize the model because I’ve grown affection towards it because I’m traveling in it.
So I, I have a, like a strong bond, strong bond with the vehicle now. It looks like that they’re really paying attention to fit, finish, noise, vibration, harshness, addressing things so that way when these vehicles get to North America that they’re ready to go. But it was cool to see them continuing to put energy towards making the vehicle great.
Constant improvement. Yeah, constant improvement. You know, other gadgets, I, I am finding that I’m trying to, like you did with the Tesla, I’m trying to find things that in one decision removes, A thousand decisions [00:43:00] or creates space in my life. So I’m gonna talk a little bit about my phone. So those are, you are on YouTube.
This is now my wallet. And my wallet not only contains things like my driver’s license and a couple credit cards, but it also even has a phone in there. So, believe it or not, this is a phone. It’s called a light phone. They didn’t send it to me. I bought it. It it is a dumb phone. Yeah. So it like works with.
My level of intellect, it’s as simple as it gets, but the cool thing about it is it’s an organic led screen. It basically makes phone calls and it sends text messages with some degree of effort. So you don’t find yourself really trying to text or anything like that. You can see it’s just a very simple screen.
There’s no color. It will also play music.
Matt Scott: Kind of looks like a, like a Kindle screen.
Scott Brady: Yeah, yeah, exactly. It’s in, and it is a little bit backlit. So it works at night, but during the daytime when there’s no, when there’s a sufficient light, it’s not backlit. It’s a phone, it’s got an alarm, it’s got a calculator.[00:44:00]
It’s got a clever calendar function that I can pair with my Google calendar. So it gives me push notifications, which is something that’s fairly important. It works as a hotspot. It also allows me to have podcasts on there, do a couple notes, those kinds of things. So I use this phone when I’m back in the United States and I love it because it took me about a week to get over the neuroses of like constantly checking my phone.
And I had already taken all social media off my phone, but I found myself still like this compulsion to like, I don’t want to check my bank balance or like go onto CNN or what I just found a new, I found a new version of obsessing over the stupid phone. So I decided that I was going to take a break, a digital detox, and I’m going to use this thing.
Now it’s really important to note this, this is not a solution for travel. It does not work well internationally. I can’t, I can’t have boarding boarding passes on there. It does have a way to do directions, but it won’t work internationally. You can’t have Gaia, you can’t have, like, [00:45:00] there’s things that you, I can’t do instant, the messaging through the Garmin inReach.
Your bubbles went from blue to green. Yes, that’s right. Exactly. While I’m in the U. S., I’m going to keep using this thing, and I love it. It’s kind of like a big middle finger to all of the, the time that I’ve lost with, with tech
Matt Scott: devices. I think five, ten years ago when you traveled, I, I, I wonder how much of it, you know, the enjoyment for me.
Yeah. But now your phone just works everywhere and you have internet everywhere and you are constantly connected. Like I, I find that with the Starlink now we were out in, Oh, we should talk about my, my big stuck in the earth. Romer. Well,
Scott Brady: let’s talk about the Starlink stuff first because I have a little update on Starlink too.
But
Matt Scott: yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So we have the in motion Starlink and it works. Yeah, really great. We leave it on when we go down the road, it’s really good with the RV plan. So if we want to, we can turn it on and off by the month, which is like handy keeps keeps expenses down when you’re [00:46:00] traveling. I hardwired everything in the dishes there.
I don’t, you don’t know that there’s Starlink on the vehicle other than, you know, you can kind of see the dish at the back. And I have it on a nondescript switch and I’ve noticed that when I, when I first got it, it was always on and you never disconnect like we found this lovely camps. Oh, actually, no, I can’t talk about.
That is a
Scott Brady: terrible
Matt Scott: campsite there. We were at this terrible campsite and in this terrible place. And I, I kind of had, you know, this, this, this epiphany where I’m like, Oh, I don’t have to use this. And you’re just, you’re, you constantly make yourself available. And, and now the star link is making yourself available in places where you shouldn’t be available.
So I’m like trying to leave it off, you know Laura will be on the star link. And we’ve now kind of had this, this thing where we’ll be like, okay. In the morning, you know, we have our coffee, we do everything, we go for a walk. Okay, we’re going to turn the Starlink on. We press the button, [00:47:00] five or so minutes, it’s on, we leave it on for a little bit.
And third, we give ourselves like 30 minute blocks of it and then we turn it off smart and you notice it’s so fun. I mean, it’s like, it’s kind of like, you know, just having all the power with the button, but we go from low stress, you know, like talking to each other, looking at each other. The moment you press that button.
You’re just back on your
Scott Brady: phone. Yeah. And then you’re sending, and you can do that. And then you’re sending each other memes. Yeah. And while you’re sitting in the Earth
Matt Scott: row Yes. You’re, you’re like, you’re, you’re, you know, it’s greyhound memes for us and there’s a million Greyhound memes going back and forth
But you have to make the time you really do to just disconnects. I think that’s such a huge part of why. We all do this is to be one with nature. Yeah. Yeah, I buried the Earth Roamer to the frame. I was trying to find this campsite in Eastern Arizona, which is an area that I had not been to. And my mind was Arizona.
Doesn’t really rain that much. There’s not that much organic matter in the soil. [00:48:00] Generally stable, like things are very stable. I didn’t air down, which was my first mistake, but I learned a lot from this. Anyways, driving. Boop. Truck goes down. Doesn’t move. I I had missed a turn. I was trying to get to this.
There was like this. Dam that was put in like a year or two ago to keep fish from going, not invasive species from going further up. Found it on satellite. One of those places. Like, sure. We just spent these like beautiful two, three days in this Atilla campsite where there was like, there’s wild hops growing in our campsite in Arizona.
Wow. And tried to find this other campsite because we’re just so stoked on this area that no one goes to. It’s terrible don’t go but it was the first time that I had been really stuck in the earth. Roamer, I had been close. I had been, you know, in situations where I had to throw a set of max tracks out in sand or something like that.
But this was, you know,
Scott Brady: this was 18, 000 pounds of stuck, stuck
Matt Scott: 18, 000 pounds of stuck. [00:49:00] And and it’s interesting when you, when you have a winch and max tracks and recovery gear in a, in a four wheel drive, you’re. You’re recovering most, most Overland trucks are between 000 pounds, but they also have the ability to gain that momentum much quicker.
They don’t sink as much. It was stressful. Yeah. It was because where we were, I mean, luckily we had Starlink and communication and we would have been fine, but you know, it starts raining and it’s muddy and I’m not, I don’t have that much experience in mud to be honest. I’ve lived in Arizona my entire adult life.
We don’t really have it. Not really. Right. And this was a non improved road. Blew my rear winch. I, you know, some of the mistakes I recognize that I made is I, I was just going on Forest Service roads. I was going to a relatively established campsite. I’m trying to travel with less. I didn’t take my recovery kit with me.
Oh, exciting. I always have eight max tracks on the [00:50:00] back. I lost four of them. I didn’t have a snatch block to go backwards. It had an undersized winch on the back. It was kind of retrofitted. It had a worn nine, five XP, which is a great winch
Scott Brady: that demands several bully
Matt Scott: blocks. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But you have to, you have to work with what you have.
And the thing that I realized with these big expedition trucks is you can have all the recovery experience in the world. You can have what I believe to be good driving talent in, in myself. I’m smart ish. And that truck’s going to still, it’s going to go where it’s going to go. I kept finding. These like boulders underneath the surface.
Like, I mean, you’re literally you’re sinking down a 42 inch tire and there might be a big rock in front of you and you’re just not going to move. And it was stressful. It was a big learning experience. How did you get out going forward? I had to go and my initial thing was I’ve just driven down a road, you know, basically it was kind of, I’m going to call it gravel reinforced.
And then about [00:51:00] 100 feet after that, you know, I had missed. What was meant to be the turn that they had kind of backfilled and you you couldn’t tell that there was a turn there So I’m like, okay, it’s it’s uphill moving forward. I’ve already sunk. I need to go backwards What can I do? Like I I have a I have a I have a tree strap and I’ve got I’ve got this well the truck kind of Moved over and that’s where I ran into that boulder in the back.
So Rear winch went, I, I, I couldn’t go anywhere, so I had to go forward, so I kind of had to like, you know, you almost have to make these, and it’s damaging to the environment, you have to like almost make these tracks to, to free that kind of stiction, so I could get, Forward. So I’d winch forward with the vehicle, just, you know, kind of first gear, not driving the winch, but trying to create these like a little runway for myself and in essence, and then I knew that I could get back and I was able to get forward, but then I had to get the truck turned around.
That is where things got challenging. Cause I had to. I had to winch the [00:52:00] front of the truck over, you know, predictively get it stuck, right? Like, I know that I’m going to get stuck the moment I go off, I go off, there’s, there was no place to turn the vehicle around, you know, you have a, what’s the wheelbase on an earth roller?
8, 000 feet. Yeah. Yeah. 8, 000 feet. So you’re trying to get this kind of moved around. You’re trying to make it work and you just have to realize like, okay, like I’m going to get stuck, but where do I want to get stuck? So I can move. That front end four feet this way and then do the same thing. Sure. It was interesting.
And it’s my second big, big recovery when we were traveling and my second one where I should have listened to Laura
Scott Brady: talked about the one in
Matt Scott: Australia. Yeah. So, so again, some lessons is that you have to work as a team on these things. Just because that person’s sitting right seat doesn’t mean that they’re actually probably not the one that’s paying more attention.
You’re, you’re trying to drive this 18, 000 pound vehicle off road or on the road. You know, you’re only looking, you know, your [00:53:00] eyes are looking most of the time. You get tunnel vision, you’re only looking, you know, a couple hundred feet ahead where maybe the person that’s right seat is actually paying attention to the environment more.
First thing, you shouldn’t go through there. You shouldn’t go through there. Don’t do it. Don’t do it. And then I got a stuck. This is my public apology to my wife. And my recommendation, my recommendation to listen to the person that’s in your right seat. Yeah. Especially
Scott Brady: someone as smart and as experienced as a traveler
Matt Scott: as Laura.
And when the, when the, when the spidey senses start going off. As a driver, slow the vehicle down. That’s what I should have done. I knew that it was going to be challenging, but you get in the Romer and you’re like, I’m going to pick up truck. Cause that’s what you, that’s what you visually see. Sure. And you like, forget, no, it’s a really heavy pickup.
I’m not really in a pickup. Just kind of looks like one. So yeah, it was, it was, it was fascinating. And we did our best to. You know, public land, you know, we did our best to kind of, you know, fill things back in. Sure. Sucks. You know, [00:54:00] sometimes, sometimes those things just happen. Well, you didn’t do it on purpose.
It wasn’t, it wasn’t intentional. There are there’s four buried Maxtrax extremes that are, you know, I’m, I’m supposed to be that guy. I’m the Maxtrax guy. I’m supposed to be using the, the, the, the leashes and they were just buried. Yeah. You know, it was like the, the chocolate cake mud. Totally. They were gone.
Yeah. So if anybody wants to go try and find 1, 000 with Maxtrax, I’ll give you, I’ll give you the pin. And you know, glad that I was able to get out because the first, getting out of the first one felt like a win. And then, you know, there’s five more of these recoveries where you just got to drag that front end over.
Yeah. Cause the. You have twice as much weight on the rear as you do the front in an expedition truck like that. Sure. So
Scott Brady: what a fun experience. So now in hindsight, you learned some things.
Matt Scott: Yeah. Yeah. Don’t go down muddy roads in a really heavy truck in an environment that you don’t know. For
Scott Brady: sure. I have some Starlink news.
So I worked with the company unique componentry. They’re actually longtime [00:55:00] subscribers to the magazine, followers of Expedition portal. He’s an engineer and he figured out how to create a 12 volt, only 9 inch tall Starlink package. So I sent my Starlink to him because I’m planning on bringing it with me to Africa because I really had some challenges.
I don’t have to work as quite as much as I have to work when I’m in Arizona, but I still have. Work that I have to get done is what allows me to travel. So it was impossible to do some of the things that I needed to do with the internet connections that I could get. So I’m going to bring the star link with me to do that kind of work and it magnets to the top of the Grenadier with these magnetic feet, it’s super low profile.
It won’t be obvious even to anybody that. Looks at the car that there’s a satellite antenna on there. The big advantage is it converts it from 120 volt to 12 volt. So it drops the power usage by about 30 or 40 percent.
Matt Scott: And then how does that work for [00:56:00] your router though? It’s all integrated. Oh, so it has its own little Wi Fi router.
Scott Brady: Yes, they take, they take, they take the router and they take the antenna. And they make them into one and they remove the post and they remove all of the motor drive units that are in there. So it actually makes it lighter. And they machine the back of the antenna plastic panel off and then they integrate the router and then they pot and seal the entire, the entire antenna.
So it’s vibration resistant, weather resistant in ways that it wasn’t before. Yeah. And then it has four integrated mounting points, mounting nuts and integrated into the, a captive nut integrated into the potting. And then you can run either a magnetic foot or a sticky foot, or you can mount from the bottom up into it through it.
And it’s comes with a cool little nylon case. So I’m just going to carry it on the airplane. So I’m pretty excited about that. That’s something I’m super [00:57:00] excited about
Matt Scott: the in motion. Yeah. I mean, basically that gives you. It does, you know, I mean, I know that you’re not meant to use them in motion and sometimes they’ll work or whatever, but the ability to take it off and reposition it, we’ve been in campsites where, you know, we always, we don’t choose our campsites based on Starlink, if it doesn’t work, Hey, whatever, kind of have to have that Northern view and if you can’t get the Northern view, that’s where I’m actually not really a fan of the in motion and, and the full mounted solution.
Like if I would have had a different antenna and I would have been able to set it. Yes. You know, let’s say 20 feet over here, facing that way, you could have actually gotten internet. So this is a really interesting solution. It’s very
Scott Brady: clever too, because you can actually, it comes with a 12 volt cigarette lighter socket, which is never the best connection anyways, but it comes with that, but you can unscrew the 12 volt cigarette lighter portion and it becomes one of those like Dometic fridge.
Or like the hella plug or whatever. Well, it’s a little bit even more advanced than that. It’s a two pin that [00:58:00] has a polarity orientation. And then it’s also got a screw on cap. So like if you have a Dometic power supplier, there’s other power supplies that use that same connection. You can just take your little goal zero or Dometic or whatever, and the antenna and carry it out into a spot where you have coverage.
You just lay the antenna on the ground, pointing up and you’re done. You can run it off of that little power pack from anywhere. What’s that conversion cost? I think it’s about a thousand bucks. Okay. It’s not cheap, but it’s, it’s one of, it’s a low volume. I mean, the guy’s, he’s able, he’s like pursuing his dreams.
I’m like super proud of him for
Matt Scott: having something. I mean, that’s, that’s still cheaper than it would cost to get the high performance dish that’s correct to install that.
Scott Brady: And you end up with the smallest possible star link setup. So it’s carry on sized that you can take. anywhere in the world, you have to just get the global data plan.
So,
Matt Scott: yeah, cause I mean, what does that draw 12
Scott Brady: volt? I think it, I would be surprised if it’s more than two amps. Wow. So it’s very, it’s, it’s a lot better [00:59:00] than otherwise you’re having to go through an inverter, which you have parasitic loss and that conversion. And then there’s also all the motors and it, it reorienting and all those other things.
So the power
Matt Scott: consumption goes down. We, we figure anywhere between you. 10 and 12 amps for For the
Scott Brady: starling. Cause I did some testing. I saw an average 5. 7 with my starling before I got it converted. You have a different unit than I do. Yeah. So but I saw 5. 7 on average amps and it should be down to that two amp range because you’re now going, well, now you
Matt Scott: can actually, now you can actually run that on a.
Typical overland truck. Totally. It was before we converted the earth room or to lithium. It was the in motion was actually kind of a strain on those. Like I’m thinking like, oh, well, I’ll leave it on overnight. You don’t realize like it actually it’s a constant draw. It is a constant draw and it really brings that voltage down.
So yeah,
Scott Brady: so yeah, it’s really, really cool. So what’s the name of that again? [01:00:00] It’s called Unique Componentry. OK, and it’s a Starlink conversion. Yeah, he’s just a super bright engineer that decided to make a cool product and he builds, he builds every single one of them himself. And I dig that. Yeah. It’s just, it’s a very cool, very thoughtful thing.
So there’ll be a full review on that coming out when we get a chance to really test it crossing Africa. So I think that covers everything that we really wanted. Our random catch up podcast. Yes, that’s right. Well, Matt, it’s great to see you. I’m so glad that we got a chance to sit down. I’m only around for another couple of weeks before I head back to Africa.
The Grenadier is currently being stored in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. So for any of our listeners that are in Tanzania, go check out CMC Automotive right there downtown in Dar es Salaam. It’s in the showroom. It’s like the display model. Is that off of Barack Obama Drive? It’s very close to Barack Obama.
Yes, it is. It’s actually very close to there. Yeah. [01:01:00] Cool dealership, cool people. And they were just super gracious to let me store the vehicle there for free and in a safe place. And I really loved Tanzania, really loved Malawi. Make sure you, those are traveling to Africa. Keep that on your list, but I’m excited to go back.
Yeah. So I’m excited for you. I got it. Thanks, man. Yeah. Yeah. No, we need to talk about getting you over to Morocco. Dang race cars. Well, and thanks Matt for being on the podcast again today and chatting with us. Our great Scott. Great Scott. Episode. And we thank you all for listening and we’ll talk to you next time.
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