Slow Baja - Sprinter Vans & Baja With Sean Michael

Episode Date: May 15, 2025

Dr. Sean Michael is a professor of Outdoor Product Design & Development at Utah State University, and a writer and product tester in the off-road market for over two decades.  His articles have appeared in ADVrider, BMW MOA Owner’s News, Offroad.com, and other magazines.  His research and teaching include the history of vehicle-based adventure travel.  He has also taught at trade shows like SEMA, the Adventure Van Expo, and Overland Expo for the past decade, with classes ranging from solar power to responsible human waste and outfitting vans for the rigors of overlanding.  This episode mentions the Slow Baja Winter Expedition, Benchmark Maps Baja Road and Recreation Atlas, and the Pee Sport Bottle.Follow Sean Michael on Instagram Support the Slow Baja PodcastSubscribe to our YouTube ChannelBuy Baja Bound Insurance

Hey, this is Michael Emery. Thanks for tuning into the Slow Baja. This podcast is powered by Tequila Fortaleza, handmade in small batches, and hands down, my favorite tequila. Well, if you've been listening to me for a while, you know I'm an absolute minimalist when it comes to Baja travel. But the one thing I never leave home without is a good old page. map. And my favorite is the beautiful, and I mean beautiful, Baja Road and Recreation Atlas by

benchmark maps. It's an oversized 72-page book jam-packed with details, and now you can get it from me at slowbaha.com. That's right. You can get it in the Slowbaha shop, and in fact, you better get two, one for your trip planning at home, and one for your Baja rig. And if you love maps and you can't get enough of them like me, let me tell you about two sites I am absolutely obsessed with. Eastview Map Link and LongitudeMaps.com, whatever you're looking for in Maps, it's there. From the entire benchmark collection to Baja Wall Maps to custom maps, you'll find it all at LongitudeMaps.com or EV. You know I've long said it. Ask your doctor if Baja's right for you. Well, if you've been hankering to get down to Slow Baja with me, you got to check out the

Adventures tab at Slowbaha.com. All my trips are there, from my famed fall vintage extravaganza to my winter and summer expeditions, which are open to trucks of any age. You know, on a Slow Baja expedition, your meals are always included, which really does take the sting out of camping. And when we get off the trail, let me tell you, we have the happiest of happy hours. If good dirt roads, private campsites, ranch stays, great food, and great people sounds like you're kind of fun, well, you've got to check out the Adventures tab at slowbaha.com.

But don't delay. These trips are small, they're highly immersive, and they will sell out. And folks, just so you know, I am always here for you for your Baja trip planning questions. One question, 100 questions, the easy way to get me is Slowbaha.com slash contact. And if you'd like to go to Baja and you don't want to go by yourself, you don't have a vintage vehicle, my winter trip doesn't work out for you. I am happy to talk to you about organizing and leading a private guided tour. I've done it. I've loved it.

The pictures are over there at slowbaha.com slash adventures. And you can check them out. And if you've got some questions, let's talk. Coming to you from the Shielman recording booth, thanks for tuning into the Slow Baja podcast. My heaping dose of gratitude today goes out to Slow Baja alum Bob Bauer. I ran into Bob and his family at the SoCal Overland Expo recently, and we got to talking about going slow in Baja and how I could use a set of BF Goodrich tires.

And, you know, Bob still knows some folks over there. And he was kind enough to introduce me and mentor me in pitching my go slow and say hello travel concept. up and well hearty thanks bob can't wait to share a photo with slow baha wearing her new shoes and thanks to the good folks at bf goodrich for thinking a little outside the box bahaw proven still means something and i'm super stoked to be part of the bf goodrich team be part of that bf goodrich legacy all right well today's show is with sean michael he's a professor He does outdoor product design and all sorts of interesting landscape stuff at Utah State.

And you can find them on Instagram under the handle of the gear doctor. He and his wife, Dolores, are what I call outdoorsy. She's a trail runner and rock climber and a mountain bike and a river raft. And they do all sorts of fun outdoorsy stuff. And they were the first folks, they were the first entry. the first couple to bring a sprinter van on the slow Baja. And I gotta say I'm delighted that they did, got me over the hump on sprinter vans and sprinter people.

And so today's show is all about what you need to know when you're bringing your sprinter van to Baja. So without further ado, it's Sean Michael and a little afterward by Dolores on today's Slow Baja. Hello, hello, hello. Say hello, Sean. We're here with the gear doctor. I've got Dolores off camera helping out. Dolores who made this delicious cup of coffee. How many more D's?

That's a lot of alliteration, Dolores and Delicious. It's Slow Baja in the Shield Man recording studio with the gear doctor, Sean Michael. How are you, man? Buenos Aires. We've got some Baja on our throat, so you can hear it in my voice. Sean say hello it's great to be here Michael we're living the dream at Overlandus Expo SoCal for the first event but more so we just came off of a great week together

south of the border yeah it was fun you know I had no sprinter policy you exploded it nicely so I'm I'm over it now what I'd love to talk about you've spent some time in Baja you're in the gear your Instagram is the gear doctor I want want to talk about what people who have these amazing vehicles should know if they're taking them to Baja, but more importantly, why they should take them to Baja. And again, we've talked about it here with your neighbor. You know, people are just still very afraid to go to Baja. Baja, ask your doctor if Baja's right for you. That's a real concern. So take it away. Let's have a little free form, you know, we're sitting in these comfortable shield mans. Dolores made a cup of coffee. Thank you,

Dolores and let's talk about it. Well, first of all, as you know better than most of us, Baja's just magic to begin with. So to get down there, however you do it, is awesome. I think for us, we're pretty newcomers to traveling in Baja. We came to it from wanting to understand how do we do an easy start into international overland travel. We've done a lot in the Intermountain West where we live in Utah. But I think for us, learning about it was starting with your podcast, reading a lot of books, classics and guidebooks, and just trying to become knowledgeable and getting over a lot of those fears that people initially face. And that's the thing for us. The fears have kind of melted away, the more that we've

traveled and coming to love the people and the landscape down there and the ecology. But currently we travel in this van. It's a 2016 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, the short wheelbase, the 144. It's a 4-4 version. We've traveled in a land cruiser, little newer than yours. Ours is the 97. You've got an 80? We've got an 80 series, yes, sir.

FJZ 80 for those geeks. That's right. That's right. Not a VX, unfortunately. No, and wonderful. The last version, I think, of my motor, fuel injected and all that. That's enough about land. cruisers. I'm going to get back to sprinters. Sprinters are rightly so labeled in a lot of funny

ways. People see them as in some ways kind of off-putting and like the antithesis of down-to-earth overlanding. In fact, we, I think we had a little bit of hesitation when we decided to get this during COVID because of that reputation maybe or appearance. But, That said, they're a brilliant vehicle. Van travel is quite different. Like here at Expo, you see all these setups that kind of expand out from someone's vehicle, sometimes like taking up acreage all around them with rooftop tents and shower enclosures and kitchen setups. The vans are great because all of that's on the inside.

And so you roll into camp and they're really sveled. And when the Bahia, Dallas Angeles winds are just ripping, you just step inside and you get protections. So there's a lot of reasons to love vans, and we're advocates of the sprinter, but there's other great ones, too. Yeah, so, you know, my background, I spent some time in a Westphalia camper, which was an earlier version of this vehicle, basically, and this vehicle is a much, much, much more capable, much better version. But we got to know each other at Overland Expo because it was pouring rain, and I got to shelter in your rig. and we got to have, you know, tea and talk and all that, and showed up here in Southern California. It never rains in Southern California. Isn't that a song? Anyway, showed up here in his, you know, atmospheric river, torrential downpour.

I went to three shops to buy a tarp. Tarps are sold out in Orange County, folks. You heard it here from Slow Baja, but finally got a tarp that I could really protect my truck. And it was just great hanging out here in this vehicle while the, you know, the elements were kind of. kind of miserable. Blue skies now, but this rig on the trip really did well, and you did well with it. Drove down beaches, sandy approaches to Terra Peninsula, Baja 1,000 ripped up trophy truck roads, up and down Raul's driveway.

That's no joke. I mean, that kind of gives you a little pucker driving down that approach into Raul's place. It's woo! And then on the way out, you know, I have to really make sure my engines, warmed up so I can literally make it up that thing without stalling in front of 15 vehicles, which has happened. So tell me about what gave you a little pucker, and I hate to put it that way, but what parts of the trip did you just say, like, oh, I don't know if I want to do this, or were there any? You know, I could pretend to say that they were puckery, but we've spent

enough time down there that really nothing made us blink. Even the owner's sitting across from this here recording. Dolores didn't. Shout out Dolores. Yeah, I mean, we've gone some rough places. This trip, as it turns out, we were really more sand was kind of the obstacle, a couple of hill climbs. But just in four-wheel drive with moderately aired down BFG K03s, it was it was no problem. In fact, I think coming off the beach, the first little obstacle we faced as a group late in the evening heading into first wonderful camp out and uh i think a steep ascent right off the beach yeah right off the beach a steep ascent for sure and i think you had asked me did i feel comfortable with it and uh you know in the fading evening light it's kind of hard to tell

but we got on it it was zero issues yeah i'm gonna tell you i'm a wuss off-roading and stuff i just don't i didn't grow up um doing it i didn't grow up breaking stuff i didn't grow up getting stuck and digging things out and pre-running on my October trip I had a three hour dig out which is the first time in 40 something years that I've had uh you know to really get stuck and dig myself out um I just don't like doing it I like getting into camp and having tacos and a sip of Fortaleza so so I'm concerned naturally and don't want other people to have a bad experience but I was amazed at how well this thing did and you were I mean you didn't I don't think you got all four tires off the ground,

but there were some air under some tires in some of the fun sections. We may have lifted a front tire once or twice. I mean, they have the flexibility of a skateboard. So, you know, driver be aware, as opposed to something like a Ford E350, if somebody's had a four-by-four conversion, they can have a lot of articulation. These are relatively stiff vehicles, whether it's a Ford Transit or a sprinter. So drivers just have to be aware. You might lift a tire.

You have to understand some left foot braking to be able to control wheel spin. But a lot of it, I think, is about getting out there and playing. People need to get out. They need to drop their air pressures, explore how much traction you can really get out of any of these rigs. Even if it's a front-wheel drive RAM, one of the RAM Promasters, usually the vehicle is more capable than the driver realizes because we are... All vehicles. Yeah, we're urbanites. We don't practice enough.

All vehicles, especially mine, yeah. What sort of things did you take away from your Baja travels? Have you found some favorite food or some favorite thing? I know some of the first night margaritas hit a little harder than some people may have thought. Your mileage may vary. That was pure Fortaleza, Controy, and freshly squeezed limes, and you're a great lime squeezer. Thank you. Thank you.

Shout out to Opinnell knives for keeping it sharp. Yeah, well, going forward, I'll be using the gift that you gave me from Zeal Martinez from his knife shop, but that's going to be a beautiful knife for cutting limes. He's a craftsman. Well, you know, the food, well, I guess first of all, I'd say we've certainly confirmed in our trips down that the legends of Baja tacos are accurate. They are remarkable. So the food, for sure, culinary side of the trips we love. but I think in terms of what we really see the magic, it's definitely the people in the landscape.

And what about them? I would maybe describe it this way that when you get out of the states, it's really good for you. To get out of the state's mentality, to get across the border, to be in the unknown, and to be able to discover the wonders of another country, your neighbors, and to be able to recognize them as wonderful people, too. And just, you know, the most friendly people, even though we've gone down there with trepidation early on, we keep getting confirmed. These are wonderful people. Yeah.

How about Angie and Pablo who made dinner for us at Terra Peninsula? So, you know, I got a message from her earlier in the day that she was stuck. So she's driving out there and she gets stuck. And I think she had Pablo a sister because he had a four-wheel drive. So they're stuck and he's a capable guy, you know, drives chase trucks for race teams. teams and whatnot. So as I'm leading the group, I just shot our message, call Steve. So Steve was on my trip a year ago, and he comes out, pulls him out, gets the big truck there with all the lights and everything. And now he's, you know, integrated into the meal, helping cutting limes and doing

everything else. And I think there's just a spirit of helping each other. And I think the stereotype is you're going to drive across the border in this beautiful van that calls. six figures and immediately somebody's going to hold you up and take this thing away from you this thing that you've worked hard for your home away from home somebody's just going to take it yeah and so knock wood hasn't happened to me yet 40 years so so i mean we we we try to use smart uh decisions throughout our trip so we don't put ourselves in in positions that are unnecessarily risky. And like any place across the whole peninsula, there's, you know, higher and lower levels of crime. And we don't tend to be aiming for urban areas. So when we're in the back country,

really the safety issues have more to do with, you know, not getting stuck, for instance, or monitoring fuel levels. But I think initially we had those concerns about the van. We certainly made sure we insured it right, went through Baja Baja Bound like a lot of people. Shout out Baja Bound. Thanks, Jeff. Got it covered there. They're great because we could go through two options of providers and get an estimate for its value. So for someone with a vehicle like this that's done custom work, you want to make sure you can do that. So we appreciated that that was available. And I will say that there was towing insurance covered as well, which is a great bonus. If something goes

wacky with your Mercedes sensors. That's some piece of bind. But in terms of getting out there and the safety side, I think we just kept seeing how warm the people were. And I've reflected on that. Dolores and I have talked a lot in terms of like, why is that? I think part of it is, a peninsula that's built upon tourism and ecotourism. And so consequently, when travelers are coming in from the states or Canada or Europe, they're seen as very welcomed. They're seen as part of a circular economy where people are just coming there to have a wonderful time. And I would also say that the history of the Baja 1000 in score racing, folks who are not

followers of that off-road racing community don't realize how much it's not paved the way, but I guess it's broken trail for the idea that guests are people. to be welcomed. We appreciate them coming, you know, to our peninsula and that we want to support them. And it's the spirit of the race as well that when someone breaks down, you help. So there's something deeper there that many people might not realize. Right, right, right, right. Yeah, I did a podcast with the fellow who built a class 11 racer, which they ran out of gas. And, you know, again, his co-driver had had enough and his co-driver left. And so he had to leave his vehicle to, you know, go get help.

Which, you know, it was his first race. Most people would just stick around and stay with the vehicle. And so when he got back, the vehicle was gone. But the turnout of the class 11 racers of the Ensonada community found the thing very quickly. And his transformation mentally from like, these people stole my car to this amazing community rallied together to find my car was really the lesson that he took away. from the whole thing. I want to talk to you again. Your focus is on gear. You lead classes at Overland Expo. I happen to sit in, no pun intended, sit in on your class on how to in the woods. We're just going to say it. We might bleep it in the broadcast. But how to shit in the woods?

So you're an expert in that. I mean, you lead classes in it. Well, we've pooped in the woods a lot as a couple over the years. You know, I will say, first of all, it's wonderful that Expo is an event that still values education. And I'm an educator by trade. My work is at Utah State University. I'm a professor of outdoor product design. So the notion of how do we get products that let people responsibly, enjoyably, safely, travel in the back country, whether it's human-powered or whether it's motorized wreck,

is just what I think about every day. And for all of us, I think that explored the backcountry, we saw the impacts of COVID, meaning the impacts of people wanting to get out in the back country, but not knowing how to do it responsibly. And so I proposed this new class, which is basically responsible human waste strategies. Because over the years, we've learned about that, from backpacking to whitewater rafting communities and knowing how do you do that responsibly. but this is something it wasn't being taught even at Expo. And I think it's something we somehow feel like it's a dirty or an uncomfortable topic. And it shouldn't be. And so this class strives to make it feel comfortable and natural, quote unquote, to discuss.

And it really is, in fact, there's great products out there to make it hygienic, that make it super convenient and preserve privacy. and particularly for feminine needs, the market has been very responsive. So there's some cool brands that help me with putting that class together. That's your drink cup. That's not the pea cup. The P.Sport bottle is outside, which I got to say shout out to P Sport. It is a game-changing product.

This is the first trip that we've tried it. And having been a Gatorade bottle guy in the past, which doesn't help my lovely wife, The pieceboard is super cool. But whether it's that or a kula cloth for wiping, whether it's composting toilet, there are just great options out there. So we had one night on the trip where we were out in the cactus with no facilities. But every night on Slow Baja, I'm trying to camp someplace that has some level facilities

from Terra Peninsula, which I think has the best composting toilets on the peninsula. I am going to bring them a fresh round of toilet seats because just personally I'm not really down with the whole you know vinyl wood-grained vinyl cushioned toilet seat that's a hold over from the exactly I was going to say set 1978 but yeah 1980s but if those are the biggest problems we had those aren't very big problems but I do believe

that finding a ethical responsible solution to something that people do every day sometimes multiple times a day is part of why I was glad you were there. And next time you come, we're going to teach a class straight up. What to do in Catavina or what to do if you need to do it behind a bush on the trip. Yeah, Catavina Cataholes, how to do them right. Yeah, Catavina Cat Holes, how to do them right today on Slow Baja.

We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back with Sean Michael, a word from Baja bound. And more with Sean, we get back. Here at Slow Baja, we can't wait to drive our old laying. cruiser south of the border. When we go, we'll be going with Baja bound insurance. Their website's fast and easy to use. Check them out at Bajaubound.com. That's Bajaubound.com, serving Mexico travelers since 1994. A big thanks to those of you who've contributed to our Baja baseball project.

You know, we launched our gear deliveries on my winter expedition. Michael and Matthew from Barbers for Baja. We're along for the ride, and we got to deliver that critically needed baseball gear up and down the peninsula. It was really, truly amazing. And on my last trip, I got to go to the state baseball championships and see some of our alums playing, some recipients of the Baja Baseball Gear Deliveries. And congratulations to Guerrera Negro and Muleje,

the Ostoneros and the Cardinalitos won silver and bronze at the state championships. Big stuff. And it was really fun to be there and fun to see them. All right, well, please help us. continue this vital work. Make your tax deductible donation at the Barbers for Baja. Click, Barbersforbaha.org, click the Baseball in Baja link, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I really do. It is so amazingly gratifying to be able to give these kids this chance to keep playing this sport. Keep them on the field, keep them out of trouble. Please check it out. Baseball in Baja link at barbers for Baja.org. Thank you.

I want to tell you about these new Rocky Talky radios that I absolutely love. Heavy duty, beautifully made, easy to program, easy to use. We had 28 people, 15 trucks on the Slow Baja Winter Expedition. You can hand these radios to anybody from a 14-year-old kid to an 80-year-old, and they'll know how to use it. They are that well-designed. One charge lasted the entire week. We are never out of range. I happen to upgrade to the accessory whip antenna for my radio and for my sweeps radio, the Donovan Brothers.

We were never out of contact. I can't say it strongly enough. Rocky tokey radios, rockytockey.com. Check them out. Slow Baja approved. Hey, we're back with Sean talking about vans and catavina cattoles and other such subjects, casabiria tacos and, uh, Campo Archelon.

So this vehicle is capable for staying out remote, obviously, and this vehicle is also perfect for sliding into Campo Archelon, which you guys did for the last few nights. Favorite spots that you saw on this trip or favorite spots that you would tell people who had a van like yours, you really need to stay X, Y, or Z. What would you say? Well, I think you want to try both the Pacific and the Gulf Sites. There's magic to both. They're very different in terms of character.

We had a great time whale watching for our second time on the Pacific side, again, off Guerrero Negro, Once Upon a Time, Scammon's Lagoon. And I think that's great. I think on the Gulf side, there's so many really neat spots. This was our fourth trip. I think we've been to Bahia, Dallas Angeles every time. We've always wild camped while we were there. This was first time staying in the very cozy Campo Archelon.

That was great for multiple reasons, not the least of which were very nice hot showers, very affordable, great cafe there, if you need it, Internet, and so on. I think a person's got to find their own way to travel, and we're primarily backcountry travelers. We would always rather be out under stars than having any localized support. So we're, A, normally traveling solo, first time we've done a group trip, and we love doing that with you. B, we're trying to get into remote, relatively unpopulated locations along the coast normally, but sometimes out in the cacti as well. Ioverlander's going to have plenty of sites for those doing their first or second trip or something,

and wanting to know options. But I think you really want to start adventuring a little bit too, discovering some of your own, don't just go to sites that someone else has labeled, and then be self-aware about recovery. In my experience, the two things that were most concerning to me as a driver of a van like this was the sugary sand that you get as you transition from road

to the more compacted beach area. In four trips, we've only been stuck one time, and it was because I stopped backing up into sugary sand and a couple of, we carry four action tracks boards and put those down. We just rolled right out. It was just a no-brainer. So I think something like that, you got to travel with good boards like the action tracks ones. But I would say persons got to self-identify their fears that they don't want to address. and then ask what's really behind those because the fears may start holding them back

from discovering more of the magic of Baja. Yeah, and I'm not going to twist anybody's arm if they don't feel like it's right for them. There's a lot of places in the states that they can go and maybe have cell phone coverage and AAA to get them out and all that. So I, you know, again, ask your doctor if Baja is right for you. This doctor says it is right.

Well, I'm glad. I'm glad. And I'm delighted that you got me past some stereotypes about what sprinters can do and those dreaded sprinter people. You know, I know Ty, who makes the sticker that says one less sprinter van that you can put on anything but your sprinter van? Shout out, Ty. Let's talk about three things. Three pieces of kit as a gear doctor, as a guy who teaches this stuff, three pieces of kit that you would really recommend that people have if they're heading down to Baja in whatever. vehicle, but you came in your sprinter.

Yeah, air compressor. Okay. Got to have a good air compressor and, of course, a tire gauge to go with it because you're going to be lowering pressure if you're getting off. Well, even on pavement, I mean, given the legendary potholes on the pavement, you will really want to drop PSI. So, for instance, into the world of sprinters, a heavily built sprinter, someone could readily be running 60 to 70 PSI and their tires on the state side. You know, you come across the border, you want to soften those up.

So when you hit a pothole inadvertently, you take out some of the impact. But once you get on some washboards, you're going to drop lower than that, maybe anywhere from 25 to 40 PSI. So that air compressor gives you the peace of mind to say, I can drop pressure, make the ride more comfortable, less abuse on the vehicle. So that would be one. I think you do have to ask a question about communications. And we ran Starlink Mini for the first time because my wife has to do telehealth meetings.

We need to be able to check in. If we had any real serious problems traveling solo, we want to have that as a backup outreach mechanism, whether it's getting on to Sprinter Source to look up a fault code or something like that. So I would say a key piece of safety communications backup would be another. I definitely mentioned the boards earlier. I think that winches, of course, are well known to be an overrated recovery device. And so consequently, a good set of traction boards, at least two of them, ideally ones that have metal nubs on the end, less spin factor getting up onto the board,

is really wise. So I think those are some of the really core ones. Air compressor, traction boards, and communication. Specifically, you said Starlink Mini. Right. Now, that stuff's all just the, like, the safety backup stuff. But on the fun side, like, what do you really need to take? We've been kicking ourselves.

Dolores is smiling, grinning. She's grinning over there. Peaceboard bottle worked. For fun and enjoyment, P-sport 2.0. But listen, again, like, it's funny for me to be driving around in the States, not just be able to pull over and water a cactus. Like in Baja, that's just a natural thing. And when you have a group of 15 rigs going down the road,

the hardest thing is finding a place where everybody can pull over. But I cannot, you know, put myself in a female guest's flip-flops to have to find a bush that offers enough coverage from a very large group that's all doing the same thing. We're all out there doing the same thing. So the P-Sport bottle. And a van. To do it in is...

A link in the show notes, folks. This is one of the joys of a van, frankly. When it's snowing, raining, or in the middle of a truck stop, that you can still take care of this personal business inside, out of view. That is dramatically improved just our relaxed travel mode. You could be stuck in, as you've experienced, a three-plus hour Mexicali border crossing, and you've got to pee, and you're not going anywhere, but here we just go into the back of the van. There you go.

Okay, two other things. So we've talked about some bigger things. Just give me a couple items that you really said, wow, this thing was great. I'm going to actually shout out for binoculars. Because, for instance, this time we were right in whale season. You lined us up for a fantastic whale petting viewing experience. But we were seeing spouts. Yeah, we went to the petting zoo.

Out on the water. And but we met so many people that didn't have. have binoculars. And I think that's bonkers because you're looking out there and you're wanting to see where those dolphins, were those whales? What's that blue-footed booby that's diving for fish? Yeah. So binoculars make the trip a lot more enjoyable. So that's one. I think another for us is paddle sports. We're still kind of kicking ourselves. We didn't bring our subboards or kayaks. And do you use inflatables? What do you do? Yeah. So we've got a combination of hard shell kayaks, inflatable sups. We use

red paddle co. We've got a full-on zodiac with outboard motor that will collapse, throw in the back of the van. So getting onto the water. Snorkeling, yeah, snorkeling gear for sure. A good little shorty wet suit at least for

chillier water. So a person wants to make sure they don't get so focused on safety navigation that they forget to enjoy. And then I I'll transition a little bit to the navigation side. You like myself are a big proponent of paper maps.

And so jumping into thinking about where am I by looking at a paper map, getting your head out of Google, which Google Maps might not be working if you're offline, a paper map where you can make notes, you can say, I wonder what's down that road. You can read about everything from the old villages to, to chapels, cathedrals, et cetera,

that curiosity causing part of what we bring I think is super powerful and that's another type of gear that people can forget about. Yeah, yeah, I think the couple pieces

of kit that I really love is we're sitting in them right now, the shield man's, I've really had some horrific back pain the last couple of days and I swear It's from the BMW rental. There's an atmospheric river I was driving through.

So I swung into the airport, put my car and covered my land cruiser and covered parking, picked up a rental car to drive up and sea sal fish in Malibu. And I think just the 200 miles that I put on that thing in some BMW seats has me hobbled. The shield man seats, again, worth every penny. And I'm not just saying that because I'm, you know, you're sitting on them. I'm sitting on them. But it really, really makes a huge difference. And I love the benchmark.

I just love, you know, before the previous map was out of print, it was a collector's item, you pull one out and you're kind of flexing, like, here's my map that I could sell for $300 right now on eBay. To have these benchmark maps that you can just, like if you see the one in my truck with 30,000 miles on it that's folded in half and ripped up and has all these notes, I think it's really an amazing thing. And more so in a world where we listen, where we're sort of on I overlander or, committed to GPS all the time to walk into a restaurant, cafe, store, what have you, and use the HPS, the human positioning system, even with the language barrier, to say, I'm here and I want to go there, and they're going to say, oh, no, there's a hurricane that took out that road. Or, oh, that road's been repaired since the hurricane, and my cousin has a, you know, a hotel there, a taco stand, or something. There's a network of cousins, the Primo network I say in Baja that you should tap into. And often something as simple as opening a large map in a restaurant brings people to you who are curious about what are you doing and eager to help. And I think that's something that's kind of overlooked with our Swiss Army vehicles and our maybe people who overland are naturally introverts.

I don't know, but people want to have all the answers and not have to, interact. I still think interacting is pretty neat. I think, too, when you pull out the map like that, you're saying, I see you as the expert, as opposed to if I stare into my phone or my iPad, it conveys, the answers are in here. You don't know anything. So I love that. I want to circle back real quick on something that would be overlooked by most people on these seats. We got these shield man put in as we were building out this fan. We did a combination DIY and had a professional builder, Acme, do the actual building itself. But these seats, one of the things that we faced as a decision in putting them in was Toby asks us, so do you want armrests on them? And I was like, I don't know,

I've never had armrests. It seems like a big RV thing that you put armrests in. But I got to say, one of the number one safety things that I tell van drivers coming down here is that the armrests on these seats are one of the most important safety factors for driving. in crosswinds and very narrow Baja roads when you pass a very close semi because precision steering is just much easier when your elbows are on these armrests. And that's not blowing smoke. They are a real safety factor for keeping us well. And we joked about me following you in the FG40 and seeing the amount of slack in your steering. It's dangerous. It'll be my end one day. Dolores as a mother of three is looking at me like, what an idiot.

Keep your hands on the wheel, man. Yeah, yeah. No, these little things are fun stuff to discover, whether it's via maps, navigation, whether it's dropping into roadside talkeria and discovering the people there or the artifacts on the wall. So I would just tell people, whatever the stuff, the gear that you're looking at, ask, does it empower the experience by making you curious, making you celebrate or be respectful of the folks that you're encountering and allow you to drop some of your fear. Yeah, yeah, you know, and we'll tie it all up with the bow and then we'll get out of here so you can teach your class.

Kurt Williams, cruiser outfitters in Sandy, Utah, great, great adventurer off-roader. He was talking about his trip with land cruisers to all seven continents. And he said the best times were when they didn't have provisions and they had to eat locally. And he advocates, as I advocate, to not bring, you know, everything with you so that you don't have to stop and provision stop at a taco stand. I think we ate pretty dang well. Did you come away with it? Yeah, for sure, I did. For sure.

Because I did it two weeks in a row. Did you come away with a favorite? Are you an Alpasteur taco consumer or a carneasada or a caesorea or a quesabiria? What did you come away with? Like, this is the thing. Oh, gosh. I really love a grilled Camerone. So shrimp taco, if I can just get grilled ones.

I'm not, I don't love a battered one. Neither of us really love it. Much harder to find. Yeah. So if I can do that. These sprinter people. The barillas, amazing. The lamb that we had was amazing.

We discovered a new top five taco. And it was smoked yellow tail with kind of a tangy aoli sauce. And it was out of this world. So I think we keep discovering new favorites. Like anywhere, there's kind of average food. But even the average food. Sure. Even the average taco in Baja is a lot better than up here.

Well, we're going to leave it right there, folks. Sean, thanks for talking about Baja and Sprinter vans. You, if people want to find your Instagram or where's the best place for people to reach you and see what you're doing? They can go to at the gear doctor, D-O-C-T-O-R at Instagram. They can look me up on Utah State University. And just a shout out to you, Michael. Well, I thank you for all the work you do to make Baja accessible, to spotlight the people in the places.

And we love being able to be a part of your trips and more so to listen through the podcast. Well, it was fun, wasn't it? You're making me blush, but it was fun. We had a good time. And if you're a slow Baja alum, if you're slow Baja alum, you can circle back, reach out to Raul at Rancho La Paiota, and you have alumni privileges to be able to stop in and see him again.

So that's pretty cool. All right. We did it. Enjoy your class, and I'll see you. Thanks for feeding me. Thanks for the coffee, Dolores, and discussing all these wonderful gadgets that keep us adventuring. Good, nada.

We did it. I'm putting Dolores on the spot unwillingly. This is just going to be a little addendum. Two things, three things, Dolores. What helped you enjoy Baja? What helped me enjoy Baja? P-sport bottle. Besides the Pee'sport bottle.

With you, it was amazing because we just relaxed. We just got to follow. We put everything away. We didn't have the itinerary. We just trusted Michael's goddess, and we're going to just follow and have fun. So that was greatly enjoyable. Thank you. That's it.

We can leave it right there. That's awesome. I didn't have to worry about food. The food was amazing. I could just show up and eat. Show up and eat. and make coffee from me in the morning, which was pretty nice. Yeah.

All right. You heard it here. Thanks, Dolores. Hey, I hope you like that show. Sprinters. Yeah, they're all over Baja, and I thought that was really great information from Sean and Dolores about what you need to know when you're bringing your sprinter to Baja. And it's good information if you're not even bringing the sprinter.

Let's say you're bringing an old Westy camper. That's still good information. If you like what I'm doing, folks, I'm going to ask you to drop a taco in the tank. You can do that at slowbaha.com slash donate. You know, it's hard to do these shows on the road. Low budget, hand-to-mouth kind of an organization. So if you like what I'm doing, you've got to support it. It's real.

Slow Baja store. I've got some good stuff over there. Got all the stickers in stock hats or still every style is still in stock. Got some black teas. So if you're looking to rep some Slow Baja merch, it's a good time to get some of that because it's there. and Slow Baja Adventures. The next one coming up is the vintage adventure.

It's a 1975 celebration of Sal Fish and the first Baja 1000 that he marked. So you've got to come in something old for that. But March 26, the Slow Baja Winter Expedition is on the calendar. You can sign up for that. So if you've got something newer and you want to get down to Baja with me and a fun group, of the Slow Baja Winter Expedition. Well, it's there. 2026, check it out at slowbaha.com slash adventures.

Now, I need to tell you about Mary McGee, she was super cool. The motorcycle Mary's nominated for an Emmy for a short documentary feature. That's right. Haley Watson, congratulations. Nominated for an Emmy, looking forward to seeing if it wins. But Mary McGee was so cool, and she had a friend of Steve McQueen who got her out in the desert, rising dirt bike. getting dirty. And Steve loved Baja. He really did. And he said, Baja's life, anything that happens

before or after is just waiting. You know, people always ask me, what's the best modification that I've ever made to slow Baja? Without a doubt, it's my Shielman seats. You know, Toby at Sheelman USA could not be easier to work with. He recommended Averio F for me and Averio F XXL for my navigator, Ted. His Ted's kind of a big guy. And Toby was absolutely right. The seats are great and they fit both of us perfectly. And let me tell you, after driving around Baja for over a year on these seats, I could not be happier.

Shieldman, slow Baja approved, learn more and get yours at shieldman.com. You know, I'm all about keeping things simple, traveling light, and finding the really good stuff. And that's why I've been wearing iron and resin for years. It's not just clothes. It's gear that holds up in the digital. dust, the salt, the spilled tacos, and still looks good when you roll into town. Made in small batches by folks who care, no flash, no fast fashion, just the kind of stuff that gets better,

the more you wear it. Check them out at iron and resin.com and pick up something that'll last the next thousand miles.