Ep. 011: Holly York talks Jeeps, Shooting, Overlanding, and Embracing the Outdoors
Aug 22, 2023
Spoke Hollow Outdoors
Welcome to Episode 11 of our podcast! Today, we have a special treat for all our listeners as we introduce the dynamo of our team, Holly York. If you've been following along on Instagram, you've undoubtedly seen her unparalleled energy and unique approach to engaging with the community.
But before we get into Holly's story, let's briefly touch on our previous episodes. To those who missed out, we had the privilege of hosting Brian Little of Sabine Skiffs and Evan LeRoy of LeRoy and Lewis BBQ. Make sure to catch up on those episodes if you haven't already!
Now, back to Holly. It's hard to imagine that someone with such a vivacious spirit began her Instagram journey while traveling and living in the UAE. But what's even more captivating is Holly's childhood passion for Jeeps. Living out her dream by finding and customizing her 2017 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, Holly was introduced to the enthralling world of overlanding, drawing inspiration from overlanding pioneers like Marco Hernandez with Ovrlndx and Brad Kowitz with TrailRecon.
Born and bred in Del Rio, Texas, Holly honed her sharpshooting skills in the county's 4-H rifle program, making a significant impact in the shooting community and even competing in the U.S. Junior Olympics. However, her life hasn't always been a journey through the fast lanes.
In this episode, Holly also provides a profound insight into the deep-seated human yearning for connection. Her overlanding adventures, spanning from Texas to the sun-soaked deserts of California, have allowed her to establish deep relationships with strangers who've now become part of her community. Among those connections is the incredible Jillian Rebekah, host of the Citizen J Podcast.
What initially began as a mission to instill a love for nature in her children quickly transformed into a path to self-discovery for Holly. Through the highs and lows, Holly's determination and quest for self-sufficiency have made her a beacon of inspiration to anyone following along.
Beyond her personal adventures, Holly is the cornerstone of Spoke Hollow's marketing endeavors and a proud Outrider. An Outrider, a hunter, an adventurer, and a bold spirit ever ready to embrace the unknown, Holly is undoubtedly an invaluable asset to any adventure.
So, gear up and tune in as we embark on a riveting journey through Holly's world. Whether you're an overlanding enthusiast or someone seeking inspiration to overcome personal challenges, this episode promises to resonate with your spirit.
Welcome to Episode 11 of our podcast! Today, we have a special treat for all our listeners as we introduce the dynamo of our team, Holly York. If you've been following along on Instagram, you've undoubtedly seen her unparalleled energy and unique approach to engaging with the community.
But before we get into Holly's story, let's briefly touch on our previous episodes. To those who missed out, we had the privilege of hosting Brian Little of Sabine Skiffs and Evan LeRoy of LeRoy and Lewis BBQ. Make sure to catch up on those episodes if you haven't already!
Now, back to Holly. It's hard to imagine that someone with such a vivacious spirit began her Instagram journey while traveling and living in the UAE. But what's even more captivating is Holly's childhood passion for Jeeps. Living out her dream by finding and customizing her 2017 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, Holly was introduced to the enthralling world of overlanding, drawing inspiration from overlanding pioneers like Marco Hernandez with Ovrlndx and Brad Kowitz with TrailRecon.
Born and bred in Del Rio, Texas, Holly honed her sharpshooting skills in the county's 4-H rifle program, making a significant impact in the shooting community and even competing in the U.S. Junior Olympics. However, her life hasn't always been a journey through the fast lanes.
In this episode, Holly also provides a profound insight into the deep-seated human yearning for connection. Her overlanding adventures, spanning from Texas to the sun-soaked deserts of California, have allowed her to establish deep relationships with strangers who've now become part of her community. Among those connections is the incredible Jillian Rebekah, host of the Citizen J Podcast.
What initially began as a mission to instill a love for nature in her children quickly transformed into a path to self-discovery for Holly. Through the highs and lows, Holly's determination and quest for self-sufficiency have made her a beacon of inspiration to anyone following along.
Beyond her personal adventures, Holly is the cornerstone of Spoke Hollow's marketing endeavors and a proud Outrider. An Outrider, a hunter, an adventurer, and a bold spirit ever ready to embrace the unknown, Holly is undoubtedly an invaluable asset to any adventure.
So, gear up and tune in as we embark on a riveting journey through Holly's world. Whether you're an overlanding enthusiast or someone seeking inspiration to overcome personal challenges, this episode promises to resonate with your spirit.
Initially my intent and my goal. I wanted to get my kids outdoors more. I wanted to get my family involved in things that I like to do. I kind of, I mean, I enjoyed doing those things growing up and then as life happened as school and family and kids and all that happened I kind of fell out of that.
Speaker 2:
Welcome to the Bunkhouse Podcast broadcasting from the confluence of outdoor recreation and nature connectivity. I'm your host, josh Crumpton, founder of Spokalo Outdoors and the Los O'Vallee Food Truck. My life as a rancher, guide, foodie and conservationist has provided the opportunity to meet some really great people, and the Bunkhouse is where we get to introduce them to you. Welcome to Episode 11. In this episode, we have the pleasure of introducing you to Miamiga, one of my besties, holly York.
Speaker 2:
I was introduced to Holly three years ago by the explore feed on Instagram. When Holly popped up, she was out jeeping and doing all the rugged, badass overlandy stuff in West Texas. The outriders and I happened to be nearby, crawling through the hills hunting blue quail, so we dropped her alined, inviting her out to the far west outpost and, as any genuinely adventurous hearted person would do, she answered the call and came on out. She spent a few days as a squad hunting scalies and she fell in love with it. It turned out that all the outriders enjoyed her company and the rest is history. Now she's an outrider, rolls with us on all the adventures, helps produce this podcast you're listening to now and is a critical player on our marketing team.
Speaker 2:
Side note, and a little teaser. She's leading the charge on a big project we will be dropping in September. In this episode, we cover some great stories but barely scratch the surface of all she has to offer. So I can guarantee you this won't be her last appearance on the podcast. I'm excited for you all to get to know and love her as we do. So, as they say out on the French Riviera, let's get this thing started.
Speaker 2:
Holly it's good to have you here.
Speaker 1:
I'm always here, you are always here.
Speaker 2:
It's good to have you on the podcast.
Speaker 1:
I know you finally wrangled me into it.
Speaker 2:
I know, aren't you so happy to be here.
Speaker 1:
So happy to be here. Isn't that what everybody says? So excited to be here.
Speaker 2:
No, I mean, it's a. You've had a pretty interesting spring summer. I wouldn't kind of want to get into you shifting to being into the outdoors a lot more. Yes, Changing your careers, changing what you're doing. But before we get into that, I want to show you this, this thing that pulled up this afternoon.
Speaker 1:
Okay, Should I be worried?
Speaker 2:
Off the Instagram. So I mean, cause you're? You're an Instagrammer.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, you spend some time on the Instagram I like the Instagram. That's how we originally met was on the Instagram, so here is this video. I'm gonna play this thing for you. Here it is.
Speaker 1:
Okay, I'm ready.
Speaker 3:
Texas is South by geography, not South by culture. What does that even mean?
Speaker 1:
That means that Texas is not Southern culture, it's just south on the map, you could have made a lot of people mad, but Texas is so big you got to realize it has a lot of different cultures, but that's fine.
Speaker 3:
But it has some Southern culture, that's fine. Some go to your grandma house and she got grits. Your grandma make grits like real grits, yes. And you go to the Walmart and you get instant grits, like Texas South is like instant grits, that's so crazy Texas South is instant grits.
Speaker 2:
That is so crazy. Florida South is like your grandma's grits.
Speaker 3:
You're saying like if a Texan's like yeah, I'm from the South, they're wrong yeah bro You're not from the South. Oh my God, texas. South by geography, not South by culture.
Speaker 2:
Okay, let's break that down.
Speaker 1:
Let's break this down, let's get into that. I feel like there might be a little point there, okay.
Speaker 2:
Okay, I mean I have a definite take on this, but I'll get your take and then I'll tell you what my take is.
Speaker 1:
I just I've never. Texas is not South.
Speaker 2:
Okay.
Speaker 1:
Texas is Texas.
Speaker 2:
So that's pretty close. You want my take? Yes, because it might take. Is this pretty much? Texas is not South anything, because we're our own country.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:
And we're better than the South and we have our own South. It's called South Texas. It's South Texas.
Speaker 1:
Yes, yes, I completely agree.
Speaker 2:
No, I mean, Texas is its own, we are our own animal. You know we're not really Southwest, we're not really South. You know we're we're, we're about the size of that whole Instagrits bit?
Speaker 2:
I don't do grits in Texas. Come on, that's not a thing. I mean, if you want like a really awesome like Massa Gordita, south Texas, you could do that. I feel like Dallas is really not known for any type of food. Fancy, fancy food, city food, I mean. Houston, you got seafood, you got barbecue. Texas, we have barbecue barbecue. We own the hell out of barbecue.
Speaker 1:
And none of that, none of that vinegar based like Southern barbecue, like this is Texas barbecue. Yeah, it's Texas barbecue.
Speaker 2:
It's the real stuff. I mean that was. I had Evan the Roy on last week and he's oh yeah, I love that episode.
Speaker 1:
It was good. It was a good one.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I know it's funny because you originally you said I don't. I don't listen to podcasts, I hate podcasts.
Speaker 1:
Thanks for bringing that one up.
Speaker 2:
And now you.
Speaker 1:
I've never been a podcast person. I've never understood it. I don't like background noise. I know a lot of people like to play podcasts for background noise and I just I don't know. I haven't jumped on that train.
Speaker 2:
Do you listen to our? You listen to our podcast, Of course.
Speaker 1:
I do.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I know, I mean, but you know, but, but do you enjoy it really?
Speaker 1:
I do Honestly. I do because, uh well, the more the majority of the people that have been on I know personally. Um, so it's always fun to hear friends on a podcast, but just yeah, I mean it's one of the more enjoyable ones. I've listened to a few like. It's just not something I do on the regular.
Speaker 2:
All your friends who make podcasts are just like oh, it's my podcast. No, I think what I like is that you find out because it you're right, Like when we have a lot of people, we have people over to the bunkhouse. When we get on the podcast, things change and I learned so many new things about people, people that have known a long time. You know, like I had no idea that Evan started his barbecue career in New York, In New York yeah. You know, and Brian Little making concrete canoes.
Speaker 1:
I'm still trying to puzzle that out In my mind, like how does that work? Don't get it. How do you make a concrete canoe.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I don't have any. I mean he explained it, but I still wasn't really convinced that it works. When we met, you were jeepin' around.
Speaker 1:
Sure was.
Speaker 2:
Out in West Texas producing a lot of content.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
You know, talking to your phone a lot.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
You spend a lot of time talking to your phone.
Speaker 1:
I do.
Speaker 2:
I was talking.
Speaker 1:
I've gone quiet in recent years, but You're busy doing stuff. I know I've just gotten busier, but yeah, I think I was headed out to California when I first came out and did the West Texas thing with you.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and Adam was there, and everybody was there.
Speaker 1:
Oh, that was such a good time, that was a good time.
Speaker 2:
That was fun. I think that that was actually right after Stuart's of the Wild and we recorded the PBS show with Ashley.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
I think that you came out right.
Speaker 1:
Right after that, right after that.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, that was fun, and we never made it to the Hila. We talked about going to the Hila.
Speaker 3:
It's still on the list, we're going to do it one day.
Speaker 2:
And you're learning to fish there. We're going to do some documenting of that. Talk to me about how, let's like, you got into Instagram. What was the vehicle? The impetus with your Jeep. Oh, yeah, what were you looking for when you were doing that?
Speaker 1:
Instagram I have a love hate relationship. I had Instagram way back when I kind of fell out of it and was going through a I don't want social media in my life kind of a phase.
Speaker 2:
Why.
Speaker 1:
I just got way too like I was paying more attention to social media than I was my kids and figured I need to make some changes. So I got rid of Facebook and Instagram and that's pretty much really all I was on at the time, but did a cleanse and swore it off and was social media free for about a year. That was around the time when I was living overseas in the Middle East and decided, well, this stuff is really cool out here that I'm seeing and that I'm doing and I kind of want to share it. And I picked up trail running when I was out there and so that kind of led me to ease back into the social media world. So I had an Instagram for that, just to kind of share all of my runs in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and the UAE. It's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:
And then when I moved back to the States I got a Jeep and so I had a Jeep when I was a teenager. That's what I learned to drive on. I loved it. And after a couple of years I moved away and grew up a little bit. I didn't have a Jeep anymore and ever since then I was like I'm going to get a Jeep one day I'm going to get another one.
Speaker 3:
I'm going to do it.
Speaker 1:
And so when I moved back to the States, I picked up my dream Jeep and I discovered a few Instagram accounts that were overlanding my buddy now, marco Overland X and Brad with Trail Recon. They were a couple of accounts that I kind of discovered and it was like wow, these people are taking their Jeeps and outfitting them and putting gear on them and going camping and doing all these cool things, and I was like that's awesome, I want to do that too, and so I kind of turned my Instagram account into that, just focused on that.
Speaker 2:
Were you looking, were you? So it sounds like you were more viewing the community and using it as a resource.
Speaker 1:
First, Is that kind of I was yeah, because I didn't know overlanding was a thing at that point. It was around 2016, 2017. And it was just really taking off in the US as a thing. Nobody really knew what it was at that point.
Speaker 2:
OK, so I just wanted people weren't camping in their cars before that so it's just a whole other conversation. So people weren't car camping before that point in time.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely, people had been car camping for decades and somehow somebody thought I mean there are a few hardcore full time people at that point that were traversing Africa in their vehicle or going from coast to coast in the US just living out of their Jeep or whatever it was, but they just called that commuting, didn't they? No, no, totally different thing, but yes, so I just feel like that really. I mean, that's taken off in the last few years. It really is just glorified car camping.
Speaker 2:
I mean, it has some difference. Does it have some differences?
Speaker 1:
There's some differences, Like it's more expensive. I feel like if you say it's an overlanding product, you can automatically charge like 30% more.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah yeah, coleman and Stanley. They've been like we've been at this forever. And Roman Venture Co and Yeti came along.
Speaker 1:
They don't need to call people out here. Come on, this is like hey, both of those.
Speaker 2:
they both make amazing products, but that is one of the things that's happened with the overlanding. And a lot of sports in the outdoors. That's not a sport, a lot of recreational activities.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, hobbies.
Speaker 2:
As the game has upped in the gear, the quality of the gear has gotten better.
Speaker 1:
And I've always been a gear nerd, so like this was just the perfect mix of I love jeeps, I love gear. Like overlanding, is it for me?
Speaker 2:
So it was community first. So were you kind of more the voyeur like just watching, or did you start? Making content for the beginning.
Speaker 1:
It was. I have this really cool Jeep. I want to make it into what I want to make it. There's some cool people doing cool things with their Jeep out there and I kind of want it to look the same way. And then from there came the community. Like, I started sharing. I just did this modification to my Jeep, I just added this aftermarket product and people were interested. What really got me? Just, I have a marketing background and what got me was that these brands of these aftermarket products were willing to play the conversational marketing game where they want to interact with you on social media, Like they'll share whatever you're posting and they'll talk to you. And just marketing brain I just that just lit up in me.
Speaker 2:
Then. Did you have a marketing background at that point in time, or was it later? Did you study marketing as an undergraduate?
Speaker 1:
No, I studied business. At the time I was working in financial services, doing a few different things, so I was a teller for a while and then I worked my way into investments and then I found myself in marketing and that's really where I settled into.
Speaker 2:
Because I've always observed and wondered this you were in marketing and I always thought it was cool to watch what you were doing with social media because you were kind of messing with it. As someone who had a marketing mind. Were you in marketing when you started that, or did the social media come before you got in marketing.
Speaker 1:
No, it came before. It was just something I enjoyed doing. I enjoyed the interaction with the brands and with the community and just something I was having fun with.
Speaker 2:
So that's kind of a cool story because, as you were in I just wanna make sure I have this straight you were in UAE, started kind of like documenting and just sort of more journaling with social media. Come back to the US, some time passes, you get this Jeep and you start doing all the modifications to it, buying all the overlanding gear, preparing to go on all these adventures and going on all these adventures and sort of using it as an experimental tool, using social media as an experimental tool to play with different marketing concepts, and then you wind up just joining the marketing department of the company that you worked with.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, more or less.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, that's a cool. And now you are full-time marketing in the outdoors.
Speaker 1:
I am, I am, I mean it was always a natural fit. Like I always kind of had a marketing eye, a creative eye, I liked making PowerPoints in school, it just was a natural fit.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, well, and you keep the wheels on around this place.
Speaker 1:
I try. Oh, man do, I try.
Speaker 2:
So the Jeep and sort of this shift of Cause, you were running, you were doing things in the outdoors you were active. You're physically active.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
But sort of this idea of starting with camping, essentially with a vehicle, to now you upland hunt and you fly fish and you do all these sort of things. And when you first started I don't really know that you had a very big community. You kind of built your community as you went is what my observation is.
Speaker 1:
It could be completely wrong. I started from ground zero friends and family, I mean. It's still relatively small and I feel like I'm one of those micro influencers. I'm very small but highly engaged.
Speaker 2:
Yeah. What I think is, what was the impetus for this Like, what was like life change, the thing that was going on, that like okay, I am, because it feels like you have come out of a shell, oh for sure, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:
A couple of different things. So initially my intent and my goal I wanted to get my kids outdoors more. I wanted to get my family involved in things that I like to do. I kind of I mean, I enjoyed doing those things growing up and then as life happened, as school and family and kids and all that happened I kind of fell out of that. And so once my kids got big enough to where I felt like they could handle some camping trips here and there, like let's start out with camping in the backyard and see how that goes, and then let's try an overnight trip somewhere. And so my goal was really to just kind of introduce that world to my kids and get them into it. And I've been sort of successful, sort of not, they like to go out with me, but it takes some convincing. But then, on the other hand, for me I just wanted to go and do and I say that because that's one of my dad's favorite savings. I just I like to go and do.
Speaker 1:
And when I had this Jeep and I started outfitting it I was like, well, I have this cool vehicle, like I need to go do some stuff with it, and so that kind of became my me time, like I need to take a break from kids and family and be the weekend warrior and go spend a night somewhere. And so I got to where I was kind of going out and doing things on my own and getting into this overlanding space and then major life moment happened I ended up getting divorced and this major life transition kind of hit me and I really just leaned into this idea of I want to go do these things and I want to go do them by myself and I want to make sure I'm not out there relying on anybody. So I really took that and just really leaned into it. I want to be able to change my own tire, change my oil, I want to go set up camp by myself, I want to spend a night in the outdoors alone, and that kind of stuff scared the shit out of me. But I just kind of wanted to push myself and make it happen and sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, but I mean I've grown so much in the last few years just for that reason.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so your journey into overlanding really when you started going, it's a lot a journey to independence.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
Do you feel like having Doing so much of this on your own, having the phone to talk to, having the social media to talk to, gave you like an extended support group and extended people who were there but not there?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, I think it. I mean, it's difficult. Sometimes you're in a place where there's no connectivity whatsoever. Sometimes there's Wi-Fi or cellular service and you're able to. Hey, this is what I'm doing, I'm in the middle of a forest and I'm freezing in my room, I'm in my camper and I'm hoping a bear is not going to walk up to my camp, but I'm doing okay, y'all. And so there was definitely community support there, like, hey, you're going to be fine, do this, you can try this, blah, blah, blah. So, yeah, the community really stepped up and helped me get comfortable, I think.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it's like Siri Turbo'd, but real people.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I want a friend.
Speaker 2:
Instead of like I'm sorry, josh, I don't know how to get to a bear free zone, like whatever it might say. Hunting yeah, so you hunted someone. You were younger.
Speaker 1:
I did.
Speaker 2:
I didn't hunt for a long time. I'm assuming you hunt a lot now but your background like you can shoot. You used to shoot a lot Like at a competitive level.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
Tell me about it.
Speaker 1:
All right. So I was born and raised in Del Rio, Texas.
Speaker 2:
My dad is where's Del Rio Texas?
Speaker 1:
It's on the border.
Speaker 2:
Which part? Which part?
Speaker 1:
Right on the border.
Speaker 2:
It's in.
Speaker 1:
Southwest Texas. So my dad is the local gunsmith. He actually just celebrated his 50th year anniversary.
Speaker 2:
Congratulations. That's awesome, 50 years it's amazing 50 years.
Speaker 1:
That's cool. I've grown up around guns, obviously, like. I spent my after school hours, my summer hours, hanging out at the gun shop, so that's always been a part of my life. And I got into 4-H, the shooting program in Valverde County, when I was as soon as I could hold a gun.
Speaker 2:
Why did they call it?
Speaker 1:
4-H, 4-h. It's heart, hands, health, and I've been drinking.
Speaker 3:
That's not the 4-H.
Speaker 2:
What's the 4th?
Speaker 1:
Do you know? No, I don't Heart hands, health and Don't let me derail you.
Speaker 2:
You keep going with your story. I'll look it up.
Speaker 1:
Okay, look it up for me, I can't think of it. Phone Google please. Yeah, so I started 4-H shooting and it was a blast. I loved it. I remember my first year I couldn't even it was a little 22 that you had to. You had to like I don't even, maybe it was an air rifle.
Speaker 2:
Nobody can see what you're doing.
Speaker 1:
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:
You had to do what.
Speaker 1:
Well, I'm trying to think if it was an air rifle, maybe, but you had to close like this action.
Speaker 2:
It was a spring, loaded Something, or other.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, but I couldn't do it. I was tiny, I was a little girl, you know, seven or eight years old Couldn't do it. I had to get somebody, every single shot had to get somebody to come and close it up for me, get it loaded and ready to go. But I progressed over the years and did really well with it and ended up doing a bunch of 4-H competitions and then also TSRA Texas State Rifle Association ended up doing some USA shooting events which eventually led to the Junior Olympics a few years. So I was on a really good track.
Speaker 2:
You did that Junior Olympics more than one year.
Speaker 1:
I did 2006 and 2009 and I'm aging myself.
Speaker 2:
How'd you do?
Speaker 1:
I did pretty well. I feel like I could have done better, but I mean I podiumed on some things. I always let the nerves get to me. That's the thing with competition. Shooting. It's really like 90% mental, 10% function, and so it was rough just keeping your head together. But those good times I miss it. I would like to pick it up again and I feel like with that sport you could actually. You don't have to be young and like 16 years old to do it.
Speaker 2:
You're young, head, heart, hands, health.
Speaker 1:
Which one did I not say I don't know.
Speaker 2:
I think you might have missed the head. The head, I think you had heart, hands, health, not the head, so head heart, hands and health.
Speaker 1:
I'm sorry to all these 4-Hers out there that didn't know that.
Speaker 2:
Wow, but do you feel like you did? You learn a lot from 4-H.
Speaker 1:
Oh yes, discipline, that was the biggest thing. Just, I mean, there's very little required of you for a project like that going to shoot maybe once or twice a week. But as a kid you have so many other things, so many other responsibilities, like volleyball practice or gymnastics or cheerleading or whatever it may be. There's so many other things that demand your attention. So having to decide that you're going to go do this thing throughout the year takes a lot for a kid.
Speaker 2:
Craziest story while you're traveling alone, overlanding.
Speaker 1:
Craziest, craziest. Let me think.
Speaker 2:
First one that pops into your mind. It doesn't even have to be the craziest A crazy story.
Speaker 1:
I mean I've got a few. That's why it's hard to narrow down.
Speaker 2:
Just pick one.
Speaker 1:
Scary or fun.
Speaker 2:
Oh, let's start with scary.
Speaker 1:
Scary. So I've got some property. My dad has this lake property out near our hometown, del Rio, and one summer we went and cleared it out and kind of made a little campsite area there and made a little fire pit area and all of that. It's really great, really pretty. There's a view of the lake Chihuahuan Desert. It's just gorgeous out there. But it's right on the border.
Speaker 1:
So one night I was passing through Del Rio to get back to where I live now in San Antonio and I was going to stay out at that property just for the night passing through. And so I was there in my trailer all alone, everything was good, had some dinner, was hanging out, decided I'd go to bed like around 10 or so, like once it got dark, and was laying there and all of a sudden I could hear somebody outside and I was thinking, ok, is this some sound that I'm just not familiar with? Like, is it something on my trailer that's making noise? Is it an animal? Like my brain was telling me this is 100% a person outside my camper and I could hear them like getting water off of my tank on the back of the trailer and I just my heart stopped and I froze and I was carrying I had, you know, protection with me, no-transcript.
Speaker 1:
When you're in a situation like that, you really have to think like what do you do? You just wait it out. Are they gonna knock? Are they gonna talk to you? Are they gonna move on? Maybe they just want water and they need to move on. So I sat there for a few minutes just like thinking, okay, what am I gonna do? I don't wanna announce myself because they'll know that I'm a female that I'm alone.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, at this point they don't know if there's anybody in there.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I don't know if they're armed, I don't know if they're just, you know, just trying to make it out there. So I'm trying to. My mom and my brother are actually fairly close. I'm just kind of sitting there thinking what am I gonna do? So it's about it's past midnight at this point and I'm like, okay, I'm gonna text my mom, I'm gonna try calling her.
Speaker 1:
So I think I sent off, I fired off a few text messages to my mom and my stepdad and my brother to see who was still awake at that time and I said, hey, there's somebody outside my camper, I need you to come. And you know they're maybe like 10 minutes away. So I waited, nobody responded. I tried calling a couple times. So my brother ends up picking up the phone and I'm just whispering like there's somebody here, I need you to get here, please come. And he's like I can't hear you, but I know where you are, I'm coming. And that was that. Just it melts my heart to this day, like he knew, he could tell there was something up, like he needed to come. And so I will never. This image is frozen in my head forever. My a few minutes later, I hear the truck rolling up which, of course you know, this person is long gone.
Speaker 2:
They were gone.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I mean the truck rolls up like they were out of there.
Speaker 2:
Oh, did you hear him leave though?
Speaker 1:
No, the whole time that I was waiting I could hear them outside. So this truck, the truck rolls up with my mom and my brother and they're honking, letting me know okay, come out. And so I get out of my trailer and my mom is in her PJs with a baseball bat and my brother jumps out and is looking around like they're there to take care. I was like, oh, there's a little girl. That was awesome. So that was a scary one for me. I didn't have a dog with me at the time. My lab was, he was aging and I had him at daycare and so I didn't have a dog with me to let me know, like what's up, if there's anything to be worried about. I was all by myself and it just really put into perspective for me yeah, you can be caring, you can have a gun with you, but is it the right choice to you know, be ready to use it?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, did you change anything after that?
Speaker 1:
I'm trying to find a good camp dog. I may have found one, we'll see. So Schultz has been out with me a couple times now and he's been good camp dog.
Speaker 2:
I'm not sure he would bark at anything.
Speaker 1:
I don't know. So there was one night where we were camping in, where were we? Colorado, I think Colorado and I was just kind of paying attention to what he was paying attention to and I could tell he perked up at a few things. So I don't know, I'd really like to have some sort of a protector breed, but I don't know. Schultz does good.
Speaker 2:
He's certainly fun and he's handsome.
Speaker 1:
He's beautiful. I get so many compliments on that dog. I went on a walk in my neighborhood the other night and this lady out of her yard was like that sure is a pretty dog.
Speaker 2:
So let's talk about an unexpected event. Go, let me think, let me think. No, what was the fun when you had on your mind before Okay, so a fun trip.
Speaker 1:
It was kind of the impetus for me wanting to get out there and do these things and show ladies that you can go and do the stuff and you don't need a man to do it with you. So it was shortly after I got divorced. I was looking for something to do. I wanted to take my trailer, go camping, go somewhere. A good friend of mine now, Jillian Rebecca, she's an awesome overland influencer. If you haven't heard of her, I haven't.
Speaker 1:
You should. She was coordinating this ladies night camp out event and I was at a place in my life where I was like, yeah, I can go do that, Let me go do that. In all honesty, she had set that event up for people women in California to go and do this camping event.
Speaker 2:
Oh, wow.
Speaker 1:
And it was open to whoever. But I don't think she expected some girl from Texas to say, hey, I'm gonna come. So she was like, yeah, you know, come on out. And so I packed up, headed that way. That's when I met you out in West Texas, so I had that awesome couple of days doing my first wild blue quail hunt. Yeah, good times.
Speaker 2:
I don't think you should have bird that year.
Speaker 1:
I did not, but it did not matter.
Speaker 2:
It didn't matter, it's not about that.
Speaker 1:
It was so much fun. So anyway, after that I headed out to California. I did a solo night in the Gila and was worried bears were gonna come get me. I did a solo night in Arizona and the middle of a cow field. And then I made it to California and met all of these crazy women. Just as crazy as I was wanting to go out in the middle of nowhere and camp, and it was so much fun.
Speaker 2:
Do you still keep up with any of them?
Speaker 1:
I do, yeah, yeah, I made quite a few friendships from that weekend.
Speaker 2:
Have you guys made it to get back together to do anything?
Speaker 1:
Yeah. So Jillian and Liz and her husband came out to Texas I think last year sometime and we made a trip down to South Padre and did Padre Island National Seashore and I kind of showed them around Texas a little bit. Yeah, yeah, that was. I mean that was just a really great trip. Just everybody thought I was crazy to go drive you know 3000 miles round trip to meet a bunch of strangers, and it's one of the best times.
Speaker 2:
You've gotten a little. Your social media has gotten quiet. You do a lot of things now.
Speaker 1:
I do.
Speaker 2:
But you don't do as much reporting on them.
Speaker 1:
Well, it's funny.
Speaker 2:
And I only know that because I'm around, so I know you do these things I know.
Speaker 1:
So, yeah, it got to where it was the norm. It's not that exciting anymore, it's not new, I guess. And then also a lot of my content was Jeep centered. And I got to where, okay, I learned how to do an oil change. Okay, I know how to change a tire. Okay, I've done everything I pretty much want to do to this Jeep. And so the Jeep content for me has gotten a little stale. I got my new old Jeep, the 95, that I did a lot of work on and that was a good content producing thing for a while. There's still some things I want to do to that, to that Jeep, so you'll see some of that coming up, but for the most part now it's all upland.
Speaker 2:
Well, maybe we'll see some of that on the social chat book Graham Face to maybe so talks, something like that, or maybe not. Maybe it'll just be a thing that you live it's. It's interesting because a lot of the If I had to record most of my stuff, if there wasn't a mathy around, there would be no documentation of anything, because well, it's funny because I myself doing the. Thing.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, you're just like. Well, you know, going down a dirt road is just another Tuesday, like for me, at one point in my life that was the highlight of my day. Yeah and it's just kind of normal now.
Speaker 2:
No, it's just another Tuesday. It's funny, that's like when when we first met. Well, not when first, but as we got to know each other a little bit better, we definitely got into conversations where I was like, explain this overland thing to me. Well, it's this and this. I'm like, well, that just sounds like going up and hunting to me, or that just sounds like going fishing, and you do all those things on the way to go there. But definitely the thing that I've observed about the overland community that's different Then, say, going fishing or going hunting Is that it's about a community of people doing it together.
Speaker 2:
Mm-hmm a lot of it is like you don't really see. I mean, you see solo overlanders doing stuff, but that's really People getting together. Yeah, is that accurate assessment?
Speaker 1:
Oh yeah, for sure. I mean the, the overland expo, all of these Expo campouts. I mean it's just such a huge part of it, everybody getting together and Meeting each other and seeing each other again, like that's a huge component of it.
Speaker 2:
I Want to go? I'm gonna go to an overland.
Speaker 1:
Let's go.
Speaker 2:
Okay, let's do it.
Speaker 1:
Texas have it outdoors is having their their overland expo here in Texas, atlanta, coming up in October, I think. Mm-hmm, let's do it.
Speaker 2:
Okay, wow, this was fun and Thanks for Sitting in on the podcast, but but you know what, before we wrap it up, I really I think it's probably important to acknowledge I don't like to hyper focus on these type of things, but I do think that for some people is important to do it. What give like? Let's sign this off with you? Three pieces of advice, because we've talked about you being like the highlight of A trip was going down a dirt road, to that becoming pedestrian to you. Now, what are the three things that like? Because I feel like you probably didn't. Just I feel like you might have Thought a lot before you started doing all this stuff and maybe have had barriers that you had to remove before you went to do all of the things and before you went to do them on your own. So what are the three barriers? Three pieces of advice you would give to someone.
Speaker 1:
I mean, I don't know, I don't necessarily think that it's Barriers, I think it's preconceived notions that women have about themselves, that I mean I, I know some girls, just Ladies that I've grown up with, that haven't left the state or even the county, you know, and it just kind of boggles my mind. And so I think advice To them or to whoever would be just go somewhere, go somewhere outside your comfort zone that you're not Used to being at, and see what happens. I mean, you want to, you want to make a plan for it, you want to, you know, think about, hey, what could go wrong, what could happen, and Just be as prepared as you can, but don't be afraid to go and do it.