Slow Baja - Team Five Dolla High Five Take On The 2021 BajaXL Rally

Episode Date: April 9, 2021

Three amigos take on the 3000-mile BajaXL Rally in a thirty-year-old Land Cruiser. Hear the unvarnished (and slightly exhausted) take on ten days of brutal Baja backroads, police actions, government sanctions, and a heaping dose of drama. Warning Adult Language! In a first for the Slow Baja podcast, we began recording this conversation at midnight. We were actively consuming adult beverages and using adult language. My sincere apologies for the language. Enjoy team FiveDollaHighFive as we ramble along, share some laughs and ask the age-old question, "Does Baja-Proven still mean anything?" Check out Jake Greene's film work at Yellowcakepics Follow Jake Greene on Instagram here Follow Dominic Prezwanski on Instagram here Check out team pics of Five Dolla High Five here

Hey friends. My name is Christopher Kaiser. I'm the editor of the Slow Baja podcast, and this is a content warning. Michael made this recording late at night while sharing a bottle of tequila fortaleza with some friends who had also just driven the Baja XL rally, and their minds were a little rattled and addled with tequila and testosterone, and sometimes they punctuated their stories with four-letter words. No rude or lewd content. Just salty language. So hope you enjoy the show. So thanks for listening. 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. Hey, do you have a four-wheel drive? Did you always want to see Baja racing up close and personal? You need to join Slow Baja in the Nora Mecca. Mexican 1000, April 23rd through 30th, the Safari class is your way to get your street legal four-wheel drive vehicle up close and into the action. You got to check out the safari class at nora.com. That's www. N-O-R-R-A.com. Hey, it's Michael, and we have Slow Baja, and we have just wrapped up a 10-day version of the Slow Baja XL, an event that came and went and got crushed and people turned around and left. And you know what?

We're not even going to talk about that. I saw this team, the high dollar high five at the beginning. These guys had style, had a great old Land Cruiser FJ62, and matching fantastic jumpsuits coveralls. Some may say jumpsuits, beautifully, thoughtfully embroidered on the back. High dollar high five. And we're going to go around the room here. We are all sitting well apart from each other.

at the Bahamar Hotel. And I'm going to let the guys introduce themselves. And then we're just going to start trying to figure out what this event is all about. So take it away, Jake. So my name is Jake Green. Jake Green. I'm a member of the three-person team, $5 high-five. And I am doing very little of the car work and a lot of the documentation of the car and the car work.

And Jake, you look like you're a real pro in that department. So can you give us 30 seconds on your background here? I have a background in photography. Started making films at around the same age. And started a production company in 2014 with my girlfriend, which I still own and operate, yellow cake pictures. And we do promotional material, music videos. films, feature films, such as documentaries about the Baja Excel.

The slow Baja Excel. The slow Baja Excel. And generally, you know, work as hard as I can to... Jake, your media professional. Let's get on to Dom. Sure, sure, sure. Media professional. I'm taking out from the media professional, Jake Green.

My name's Dumb. Nick Priswonsky. I am the owner of the FJ62. As you can tell, I'm got a bit of around here. No, I'm from a little island out in the Pacific. That's New Zealand, dude. You're from Australia. It's Tasmania. No, it's not a competition here. I was introduced to the Baja Excel probably 18 months ago. We'll start it off. We were committed at that time. Neither of us had cars.

We both got cars, a Valleyway, which one is the best one to go with, without being competitive here. We decided to go of ours just because of the extra room, three people on board, and have been working on it ferociously for the last 12 months. We've had great, a lot of support.

from everyone on board here. It's been quite warming and the cars made it more or less intact all the way back. Dominic, where's home for you? I live in Venice, California. Venice and Jake here, Los Angeles as well. We're like quite literal next door neighbors. In Venice. Yeah. Nice. That's where all the cool cats are. Cool cats. All right. Numeral trace. Firstly, I'm William Harry. Thank you, William. Also in Australian. Dominic and I did not meet in Australia. We met at a dinner party. So we fell in love. We hit it off.

Yeah, we hit it off. Two peas in a pod. We hit it off. Just like-minded people, you know, obviously have the same interest. All right. It grew from that. So whose idea was it? Anybody want to claim that one?

This is a good story. Yeah, a good story. So a mate of mine has suggested it to me originally about a year and a half ago. And being a sort of avid traveler or an adventurer, I liked the idea of it. So I tried to get the friend who suggested it to me to commit several times before I approached Dominic. Dominic and I were already friends at this stage and I gave the guy who suggested it to me an opportunity to commit and he did not

so I gave up on him and went to Dom and asked Dom how about we take this adventure together I had had I purchased the Mitsubishi at that stage I can't remember I think he might have just had just gotten that yeah I just purchased a Mitsubishi

Can I cut you off there for a second? Dom, are you drinking a wine glass full of gin? Look, we've just come off 10 days in the middle. I don't know if you've heard, but 10 days going down the Baja and back, it's been quite inhospitable. I'm just making the most of the situation right now, and at hand I had an empty glass, an empty wine glass, which I washed out thoroughly and poured myself.

the perfect ratio of gin tonic. Thank you. Oh nice. There's some of it's tonic in there. That's good. Well, I mean, I'm not a heathen. How surprised were you when we pulled up next to you on that dirt road? You looked absolutely shocked because obviously you hadn't seen us behind you for miles.

So we, I had hit, I had destroyed a tire, a wheel not more than 20 minutes before. Dom was having a bad day that day. It was, it was a bad day for me. And we had just finished. I'm quite spatially aware. He's an airline. Thanks to point that out. And it was a bad day.

I was caught off guard. We'd just done everything. And we hadn't seen anyone for hours. We were dead sure we were last. And not that it was a problem. This is a commitment we made in what we're doing. And we were prepared to be last. You literally, you know, I was slowing down.

I looked behind. I had already like mentally prepared that there's no one in this barren. it was like a barren wasteland it was literally a wasteland we were slowing down to film a burning trash pit so it was a barren wasteland and then so i'm slowing down there's dust going everywhere and this is corner my eyes something glimpses me i look around and you're there and i'm just like what the where the hell did you come from like you you startled me completely you nailed it and you talked on really on a bad day yeah well i don't know if we'd been airborne just before that or just after that, but we had also gotten sober somewhat distracted.

Ted was fiddling with a camera or something, and I looked down to see what he was doing. We caught a triple Lindy something, boom, boom, and boom, and went, hey, that's four off. We had air under all of them. Really? Yeah, I thought, what the fuck? Yeah.

Yeah, it was unexpected. And, you know, with lap belts and old bench seats, that's like a little more of adventure than we needed. Yeah, it's like a hymlich maneuver than you asked for. That's not the slow Baja style that I'm accustomed to. No. All right. So, hey, I cut you off.

You were talking about how this whole thing came together. Yes, I think where I left it off was I approached Dom about, you know, participating with myself on this adventure and knowing that he would already agree to it before asking him. Yeah, he agreed. And we committed, I think we committed within like a few days. I have to say they were a bit like conniving about it. Like in like I like for being like people who are not from LA, they were very like when I was approached, I was approached by both of them independently without either one of them knowing that I was being approached. I don't remember that. Yeah.

So you approached me and you sat me in the back of your Mitsubishi. How would you like to spend the next 10 days in this little thing? Well at that point I had no knowledge of any other vehicle craft as it were. That I would be traveling in. Was that my wife's birthday? Yeah, it was your wife's birthday. And thankfully, my girlfriend was there because I was able to walk up after being approached about filming this thing, having said yes, which I would have said yes to anyway. And it was like, hey, you know, hey, Will just invited me to go film them on the Baja, and I'm going to go do it.

Was I the first one to approach you about it? Yeah. And then I came home and Dom was away. And Dom came back from flying. And he was like, by the way. But do you want to possibly film me and Will on the Baja in my large and comfortable land cruiser? And I was like, whoa. Yeah.

I would love to. Oh, so that was awkward for you. And I had to fucking, you know, shut the fuck. I had to keep quiet, is what I had to do. So who's the conniving one here? Both of y'all. Oh, you? So, did you have a Rocham bow to figure out if you're going to take the Mitsubishi or the old Landy?

There was some to and fro for a bit, but I think, well, I feel like we let it naturally play out. We were, I mean, we're both, I mean, yeah, we're very friendly people. So we can understand ourselves. Both of them are extremely competitive. It was a little pissing contest, was it? Jake? Major pissing case. Hmm.

So was it a Mitsubishi Montero? Is that what you're? It's a Mitsubishi. Yeah, it's a Mitsubo. Two door. Currently being bidded up. Two door. It was a two door.

So it didn't have room for the cameraman at this stage. Nor did it have seats in the back. That's the size of my vehicle, basically. Yeah, but enclosed. Yes. Yeah. Yes. All right.

So you made the right choice. You took the FJ62. Will's car caught on fire. Oh, yeah. Well, that happens. I mean, sometimes. Oh, God. It hasn't happened to me yet, but.

So, we'll just stare. Fast forward, fast forward to getting the land cruiser fixed up and getting all the, who made the list? I'm assuming Dominic, that was you because you're a pilot

and you got your shit together. Thank you. Who do you fly for? You want to say? Completely wrong. No? You don't need to say who you fly for. But you fly big planes or little planes or what?

I fly for a major carrier. A major carrier in the United States. All right. There you go. So you do have your shit together? Someone believes so. All right. Well, I'm believing so.

So how long did it take to put the thing together? What went right and what went wrong? it took it took 12 months let's be honest it started with the basics rebuilding the axles completely redoing the suspension and then starting to address anything else that was nagging from then on so fundamentals and then went repairs and then went modifications and then anything else that was just just a playing the story a little bit too. I mean, we hadn't decided this stage prior to him building out the axles and the suspension

and stuff like that. We still hadn't decided what vehicle to take. So, I mean, Domina were going head to head at this stage, like, what modifications we're doing to each vehicle. Tom is shaking his head right now. But there was a period of competition. And whilst it might not have seemed fierce, it was fierce. I let the game play out, but I was quietly confident. I'm going to pour another tequila while these two boys talk about how...

Also, if you had done this interview prior to the race, I think what would be wise, would have been wise to, you know, be more... To be honest, I would have been happy with the Monterra going purely because I knew how much shit it was going to take. And so... It wasn't your vehicle. It wasn't my vehicle, so, you know, so put up with it being a whole lot less comfortable,

but it's not your car getting... For Jake, not for you. Hey, can we get into that? Do you want to get into that? How have you guys divided up expenses on the trip and how's that working out? Is there an official, a formal method or informal? Or is Dom just...

Is it deeply formal method? Dom's taken care of it all? No. Oh, no. He builds skyscrapers for a living. Like he's got, you know, a normal job. I'm the hand-to-mouthed filmmaker. All right, I understand that.

So in that sense, I've paid for jack shit, and they've paid for everything. And you're making the film of the whole thing. Yeah, sure, yeah. You're doing the important part. Well, but when we're on the stage winning the Academy Award, all of us producers. That's the priceless part.

you're doing the priceless part. Okay. So what has the experience been like? You started in Takate for an event that was quickly what, run right off the rails or, you know, how do you explain it? Can anybody explain it here?

Will? Jake, Dom? I'm full of angst, so I'm probably not the best one to start with. I could say that from a somewhat objective view like I was initially very excited because it was shooting a doc and this was a major a major league adventure you're you're riding along yeah and something on a slow rocket you're riding along on a slow rocket and suddenly something

discharged it like was not supposed to Houston we have a problem big time yeah you and And so for me, like initially on the outset, like even in interviewing Will, Dom went to the bathroom. I was trying to get the camera going. Finally, I resorted to using, I think I resorted to using just like the iPhone, and I was interviewing him. And at that point, I was like, I wasn't thrilled. Like, thrilled is the wrong word, but it's the first word that comes to mind.

but I was, I was going to say elated. That's absolutely the wrong word. I was jazzed about the situation because it was something that was like a change. And people were ripping their stickers off of their cars. So it was drama. And at that moment, I was in the moment I wanted to like further it. And I didn't, in my mind, I didn't, I wasn't thinking about like how long these guys had worked on this.

I wasn't thinking about the fact that like this is kind of a send off trip for Will. Will is moving back to Australia at the end of this. I was just thinking about the film and I was, it was at that moment that I, this like kind of sickening realization came and we needed to make a plan and I was like, I was like a vampire, like just like sucking the life. that's like in life out of the situation but but feeding on on the worst part of what was happening uh and like put it put also into context this was day three this has happened so i mean jake had experienced maybe one traumatic experience or to dominion i anyway we had got stuck on the first day we had

we had a pretty bad first day deeply i think we would we were last on the first day, besides the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, but, um, short of that, like, this, this, this was Jake's moment to kind of grow into the role of, you know, producing, it's not only, so many, so many growing into the role, he has, his ebbs and flows are directly inverse, inverse to ours, like, the times that we're related, he is bored and the time that we, are dismayed and horrid and pained, he is highly excited. He is a rouse. But I would add one rouse.

I would add one thing to that, and that is that it is a great reflection on your dynamic, both of your dynamic, that I am excited when bad shit happens. If I was bored by bad shit happening, it would mean that your dynamic, was bad shit and that good things were the outlier. The idea that bad things are the outlier kind of is a great, and I'm not saying like, oh, I'm telling you, like, you're welcome. But it's great that bad things are something

that doesn't happen all the time to you guys. I guess my point was that it created a spark in the whole production for Jake that kind of, made him kind of kick into gear. And, and, I mean, obviously you were in gear. I'm just saying, like, it created some sort of a spark and inspiration to, well, this movie is going to be, or this documentary is going to be, it's going to create legs.

I'm going to interject for folks who are just going to listen to this podcast and say, what the, are they talking about? So this event, the Baja XL that had, how, who's going to estimate the number of cars? Can anybody jump in and say, well, I look. Well, I looked at the registration just prior. You looked at the manifest. How many souls were aboard? How many souls came back?

Hi, my name is Dom. Do you like gladiator movies, Dom? There was just over 90. Just over 90. So maybe 200 people isish. That's a good estimate. Yeah, 200 people. So the government.

government in the south primarily. We heard rumors of it from when we arrived in Takate that this event had some issues. So we never, you'll note, we never put the stickers on our car. So we just rolled them up and buried them underneath the seats and said, yep, we love these Baha XL guys. And we're just gonna roll along and do our thing at the back going slow.

Your media coverage. Something. But the event got officially derailed as it crossed from north into south, and the police had to make a show. So they, I believe, rounded up 10 plus participants and marched them back up in a police, high-speed police escort to a hotel and said, stay here. You're not officially welcome in the south. I don't think we were collectively aware of that. We were made aware of that by someone waving us down at an auto zone halfway down.

And then... Is one of the heroes of the trip? Please. Keith? And it was... Some call me Keith? Keith? Keith is an American hero.

So, Jake, just jump into Keith. Let's just flush Keith out for our listeners. Tell me about Keith. Dude, okay. To me, Keith, like, honestly, like, there was a lot of speculation about it. Like, we... We're affectionate to Keith.

Deeply. We, let me preface it. Keith is... We love Keith. We were pulled out, but we were led out of the salt flat, initially on the first day by Keith and crew. What was he driving? He's driving a crown Vic.

Oh, so he's with the stoner kids? Oh, yeah. Okay. Sorry, so this whole event is nicknames. Like, you don't know anybody's name. You just kind of classify him. We haven't heard. We've been at the back of the rides.

We haven't heard these nicknows. I don't know. I mean, you're just the Land Cruiser's guys. Land cruiser guys and, you know, the Australians. So you're just tagging along with the Australians. Yes. So it's just... Jake, Jake, in that sense, he's lucky.

It's just the... It's just base. You know, you don't know anybody. name so you're thinking about like uh those raptor guys those yeah that was that made up of the team yeah those limo guys you know yeah those landy guys and then those those stoner dudes yeah the stoner dudes low they they they they they promised little and they offered much um they are not charging that's just you know that's just the name we came up with day one it's like those no no i don't think That's exactly how what our kind of, at least my take was.

And then we were talking about them as they were leading us out. And I, like, I'm comfortable saying this. Honestly, I think that life has been cruel to, in some ways. Has in some ways been cruel to Keith. And Keith has taken that and turned it around. and is the opposite. And we'll stop for anybody, and it doesn't matter if they're part of the Baja XL or not,

he has taken whatever dog shit he got in middle school, and he has inverted it. And I think that, like, if I'm speaking honestly, one of my biggest takeaways from this is, is be more like Keith. Not what would Jesus do? What would Keith do? WKD, what would Keith do?

Yeah. That's a new limited edition hat coming to Slow Baja. WWKD, what would Keith do? Yeah. These guys are incredibly endearing. We were apprehensive. We took them as those stoner dudes, but they are... At face value too.

We took them at face value, which was very, very judgy of us. Yeah, it's deeply judgy. It was like this has been a learning, like one of the larger learning experience. outside of like the internal, you know, obvious turmoil that any group would go through was like, don't be an asshole. Would Keith be an asshole about you? Probably not. Hey, and these guys have a free Crown Vic with however many thousands of miles on it and they did this thing. They're cool. Laughing the entire way. Yeah. Laughing their asses off.

And constantly helping random people along the way. Like, I mean, countless stories. They are the heroes of the event. You know, we can't wait to drive our old land cruiser down to Baja, and when we go, we go with Baja bound insurance. Their website's fast and easy to use, Baja Baja Bound Insurance, serving Mexico travelers since 1994. So the reason I corralled you guys here,

and I'm trying to get your opinion as first-time Baja X-Sellers, like, what did you think? Had any of you in this group driven, around Baja before? No, I, um... So Jake has raised his hand, I've got two nodding head to know. Will, Dom? No.

No, no for Will. Like, like, four-year-old. Like with my mom and dad. And you were on their lap steering? Big time. Tell him the waypoints? I was telling the waypoints. I was telling the waypoints. I was telling where Keith would be and where he wouldn't be. Future Keith. Yeah, yeah. No, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,

I have been down to Baja, not Baja, sir. And my parents were, like, I had no idea why, and I kind of still don't fully understand. But when I told them like, oh yeah, I'm going all the way down. Okay. We were like, what is Baja, sir? Like, to cross the border, that border crossing seems to be a kind of large. Yeah, absolutely.

Undertaking. Yeah. So were you in the country? competition category? Were you in the touring category? How did you approach this? Were you competitive? Obviously Will and Dom you two were competitive about whose vehicle is going to be the vehicle and Dom you won out. You're looking very smug or or humbly smug as you know. That's his perma. Your vehicle took the full abuse and Will's vehicle is for sale right now on eBay. Who really won this race? So yeah. Competition were you in the race?

Originally, we thought we would be competitive enough to be in the race class. Dom and I had a conversation one night over a couple of drinks, and we had decided that if we were going to take the land cruiser, that, yeah, that was not the fastest vehicle to enter the race category. So we had decided to take the more scenic route and enter the adventure class. so I think that was wise very wise

very wise choice and honestly like I wouldn't have changed it knowing the race as it is did anybody read Aesop's fables the tortoise in the hair

did anybody read that anybody wear that old that old rag I mean we're like like the tortoise in the hair sure of course yeah all right yeah everyone

the tortoise wins baby the tortoise wins baby well where are the raptors now really back in Orange County I exactly right. Thank you for vocalizing that.

Does I say that out loud? I love Orange County. Routity. Shout out, Baha, H.C., love you, Cameron. I love you too, Cameron. I mean that, seriously. Wow, I'm just, this, this, uh, this tequila's, I've never tasted anything like it before. Dude, I was trying to tell you.

Is that honest? Are you being serious or being funny? I was trying to tell you is like, like, you know, I mean, you know, you know, when, when this pandemic first started and we started getting on. this homemade, like, sanitizer cream, and it smelled like, not cream, but like gels and it smelled like, it smelled like tequila and the memory of that just makes me gag, but this is nothing like it on the lips. Is this more whiskey like on?

It does. It's got more of an okay taste to it. It does have a whiskey taste to it. Absolutely. I'm almost finished. I'm just pacing myself. This is the last bottle that exists. You can pace yourself right on through it if you'd like.

Very good. All right, so let's get back to it. Hey, so the event went off the rails. What did you guys do? We got caught out halfway down in a little town, and we... It was very dramatic. It got a little bit off rails, I'd like to say,

but we quickly caught ourselves. We gathered all the information that we could... Wait. Off rails, when we were with these guys? off rails afterwards. Well, the event officially went off the rails in that Baja Sewer said basically you're not welcome. That's right.

And the 10 race category folks got rounded up at some point and got a police escort back to a hotel in the north and said, don't come back here, you guys. But this is information that we know now. Back then, it was speculative. There's no information when you're on this thing. No. So we were getting erroneous information. nothing truly credible and we're trying to piece together all these conversations that were happening

individually all around us. It was a lot of noise. So it's easier to get overwhelmed with what was happening. So what I was saying is... And information was coming in like periodically too. It wasn't coming in. Like we just didn't get a dump of information. It was coming in every minute whilst we were deciding what to do too.

So put that into the scenario. Yeah, absolutely. So it was just a troubling time. But we decided to just, after everything went across, we decided to take a step back, have a good meal, a good meal, and then talk afterwards. And I think we made some good decisions then. There was a lot of rash decisions that we were hearing from everyone else that we were talking to.

But we decided to go ahead, we pushed through. It was a really long night. We got into camp. I don't remember 1 a.m. There was no one else there. We weren't sure, but it ended up being a beautiful camp, but we persevered. And once the hype of this saga kind of wore off,

and we established ourselves as more like, we're doing this as a team away from the race, I think the rest of the trip kind of panned out really well. And I'm glad we pursued it. Yeah, you made a pivot. said, hey, let's just enjoy ourselves. We're here. Exactly right. I think one... We're not a raptor. One more note from me

is that... Not that there's anything against Raptors, and Ford, if you'd like to send a slow Baja a Raptor, I am receptive, or Cameron Steele if you're got one alone. I'm down with that. I mean, just to also just put into this scenario that, like, you know, we were taking information as it came, but we took ourselves away from

the whole situation. which was, I think there was a fuel station and there was an auto zone down the road where collectively, you know, Baja members. Collectively Baja was the center of it. You'll find everybody on a rally at an auto zone or a taco stand or a gas station eventually. But yeah, I mean, that's where everybody needs. This is where everyone resided after the information and then we took ourselves away from that scenario and we collectively made a decision on what to do. And we, and there was, like, it was weird. Like there wasn't, it wasn't like we were clinical in the sense that, like, we took ourselves out.

We went and had dinner and we made a decision, which was like the idea at the time. We took ourselves out. We started to drive down the road. We saw flashing lights that were blue and red. We, and that was like 45 minutes down the road. We turned around as a reality. result of those lights went back into town. Like it was, it was arduous.

There was, it was, it was. So you saw like a roadblock or something? Is that what you're saying? What we, what, what I perceived? What we all perceived. Yeah. As a roadblock and we all perceived as a roadblock. And tensions were high at this point. We were all angry at each other. We were, we were angry at each other, but we weren't, this was not the climax of being angry at one another. We were at that point making kind of decisions on the flight.

lie. It was hot, but it wasn't like, there wasn't resentment yet. The resentment yet. Yet. The resentment came after the fact

once we had made the decision to continue south. We ate, and you'd think that that would resolve a lot of tensions, and perhaps it did. The team broke bread together. We broke bread. As a gesture of solidarity.

It was delicious. The bread breaking was bullshit. Because the true drama... But young Jake couldn't drive a wedge between the hard Australians. Cue the do-bo music. Exactly. Dojo. What is it called?

Did you do. Did you do so far off. I didn't even get the reference, but now I appreciate it. That's great. That's for you, boys. Right a mention that again. The true drama comes in. when we are driving down the road

and Will is in some ways facetiously asking do we want to give up and he really wants to hear from Dom no we continue south we continue southbound and Dom's not giving it to him

and Dom is in some ways giving him the opposite and it becomes this fucking internal fire that is a imagine an engine block for those motorheads amongst us. An engine block and magnesium fire that has started. That's white hot for you at home.

I was about to say those words. White hot. It's also irreversible. It's irreversible and it's internal. It's going to melt to the ground. And you can't see it. Let's say it's on the inside. You can't see it.

On the outside, you'd be able to, like, shoot fireworks off of it and have a good time. But on the inside, like, it is just burning. And there's nothing you can do about it. And as much as Will wanted to hear that we were going to still continue south, this is his send-off trip. And as much as Dom wants to accuse. He's got skyscrapers waiting for him to build them. And he's... He's goddamn...

He's bumming around Baja with you knuckleheads. Yeah, a bunch of dumbasses. One airline pilot was a normal job and one hand-to-mouthed asshole. Filmmaker. Filmmaker. Hashtag. Filmmaker. Hashtag film maker.

Yellow cake. Yellow cake. Yellow cake. Hacks. Yellow cake. Hicks. At Kimberly Ford. Dumb said that.

Don't said that. I, so, no, but there was serious drama. It was extremely. extremely uncomfortable. And it kind of, like the magnesium fire, I don't know, it still might be burning, but it burnt itself out. And we got to camp.

I fell asleep also. Because of the tension. And we got to camp. And it was groovy. It was cool. So did you guys camp every night? Was that the intention and you did it? Or did you actually get hotel rooms?

I think the intention for Domini was to to see it out and to camp. All three of us, actually, all three of us to camp. Sorry. To do it right, right? I mean, Jake would follow, but Domino, I need to make the conscious decision whether to camp or not. I mean, we, that's what's what we set out to do.

I mean, we, that's the adventure. We wanted to, we wanted to challenge ourselves. And camping is a challenging factor. I mean, there's, there's lots that play into camping. I mean, there's the... Like, how do you get your film crew packed up in the morning into your car

after it's been filming? The answer is you go. You wait to the afternoon until it is packed up and then go. And did you have a food challenge? Were you like making steaks out there or were you just pulling open bags

and pouring water in? If it was up to me, we would have been eaten spaghettios with plastic spoons because if you use a metal spoon, it gets metallic tasting. But these, these guys have a food porn

they've got a camp game they've got a camp game going yeah yeah so exactly we're not here to fuck spotters that's an Australian expression so the expression that I came up with which will be on a shirt soon at Shopify on slowbaha.com ask your doctor if Baja's right for you

is Baja right for you will I would have to say yes Dom absolutely Jake I mean the fact that they both said yes immediately well i mean if you could see what i'm seeing right now and his face is red peeling dotted also so i think he's been rough on us how is what is the doctor saying jake well as a fake doctor myself if you want to hammer out any kind of tension in a group and like you want to

kind of understand everyone and then it's done. Yeah, do Baja. Ten days on a rudder road and an old truck? Yeah, get it. Get it. That'll jiggle it all out of you? Hopefully will. Or it'll make you hate the person and, you know. Does Baja proven still mean something? What is that? See, we don't. That's the B.F. Goodrich tagline from their old, you know, off-road T.A. Tires. Baja proven. It's stamped right on the side of the tire. I feel like, I feel like, Because of the, like, because of our generation, like, we've been taught, like, El Chapo owns Bah. You know, so we, we, to go to Baja is like, like, B.F. Goodridge did, definitely didn't tell us to go here. Well, I think that's quite an ironic statement right now because I went, um, I went over and above to get myself a pair of brand new BF Goodrich tires to my car.

could not. Nowhere in California, nowhere in any surrounding states could I find BF Goodridge K-O-2, all-terrain tires that would fit my car. I went with... Dom, tell them what you went with. Falcon, all-terrain AT-3s. That's a Falcon, all-terrain. That's not a plug.

It did fantastic job, but like, how can they be Baja proven if I can't even get them? Did they get a sear down? They've just let themselves go, just like every great... The Baja, all-terrain AT-3 is? let themselves go, Tom? That did not. You know, I'm going to be trying to get some tires out of Bia of Goodrich, so we're going to say some nice things.

Oh, fuck, okay, okay. No, take two. Take two. Let's do it. I mean, I'd love to. Let's get, let's get it. Ready? Or Falcons, or Yokohama, or General. Anybody else. We'll do it. We can reset. These guys know how. All right. Jake, take it away. Slow Baja, tire pitch. Take one.

So one of the things that we thought was super cool about the Baja that we don't get a lot of exposure to, but we could, was this old kind of branding that B.F. Goodridge did. And that was, what was it again? Baja proven. It's stamped right on the side of every tire. I wish that our car had Baja proven on it in the same way that the BF Goodridge tires have Baja proven, stamped on them. So one of the other competitors, Wilson, asked me about my tires this morning at the hotel.

And he said, hey, tell me about those Baja all trains or mud trains that you got on there. How are they been doing for you? I said, well, they were on the truck when I bought it nine years ago and they're still doing fine. have you experienced like any splitting any kind of tearing any like splitting chafing rashes where yeah moderate to mild rashes not available in every state have you experienced any kind of problem we're getting off the rails here we're going to wrap it up it's been a lot of fun with these guys the high five five dollar what are you guys five dollar high five that's five five five five five five five five five five five five

O-L-L-A, high, H-I-G-H-F-I-E dot com. So, So, can I, can I just go lightning round here and say highs and lows? Jake, highs and lows. Highs and lows. Give me one high. Give me one low. Okay, so high would be, honestly, high would be experiencing, experiencing this with these guys and not becoming enemies with them.

low would be wondering whether or not I had enough footage that had audio with it great all right Dom I've just well this is a high for me

I've just discovered a whole new region which is not given enough justice the whole peninsula here is stunning and the more you persevere the more you reward it it is I just can't wait to get back to be honest and my low

you sick of my high already you sick my high bro it's not cheap it can be cheap but it takes a toll on your car so you just prior preparation prevents piss poor performance

just make sure you are prepared it doesn't have to be expensive just be prepared well high for me would definitely be someone one of the same as diamonds, but the different terrains, like just absolutely stunning scenery.

Absolutely just... From snow to blazing sun and it's only February, right? January and February. Just days. Yeah. And constantly changing it and you're constantly mesmerized by the terrain changes. Like just the geographical changes. It's just amazing.

Even today's drive home. And did you have, how about that drive from Catavini with all the cactus and whatnot? It's amazing, isn't it? Cactus, forests of cactus. Who would have known how many cactus species were out there until you're human cell? Big. They're also insane.

Like, there is an aggression to life that exists on Earth that makes me wary of life itself. Not its, it's like terminable existence, but the fact that it could just persevere. Go ahead. Sorry. Personally, my low, I just, myself, was definitely just sleep deprived. Yeah.

Constantly. You guys did this by the book, right? So you did all the routes and all the... We did all the routes. We did all the routes. We tried to follow everything with religiously. Just next time check in with Slow Baja. You know what?

Turn off. Turn off at three. We will be winching to Slow Baja. Turn off at three. Get to the hotel. Not too late. And cruising. Let me throw a question back onto you.

Did you decide to camp? or hotel it? Well, we had camp gear with us, and we had intended to camp two nights out of the, what was it, 10 night event. So we had intended to camp two of the 10. And the first night was that rainy, snowy night. So we said, F that immediately.

That's just call audible at the line of scrimmage since today is Super Bowl. We're recording on Super Bowl Sunday. That was an audible at the line of scrimmage. We read the defense and said, no way. We're not camping in this. So first, first, hotel north of San Felipe.

My teeth were chattering. I was frozen. I mean, I might have been in shock. I'd already been to a, you know, we're not discussing the Takate events, but I'd had some trauma. So, you know, I just said, let's get a hotel right here, right now. So you had your open air. Yeah, no, open air vehicle through, there's snow on the ground, it's raining.

I mean, there was a lot of, there was a lot to endure on that first day, and we certainly weren't going to camp on top of it. So that was that. The second. camp night was the after Bahia Concepcion. It's a night. It's a location that has escaped by

memory this entire time. Los Angeles? Los Angeles? No, I drove through Los Angeles earlier. No, it's the one that's south of it's south of Behiia Concepcion, north of Cabo. I can't remember that from the name, I can't remember

it for the life of me. But we were intending to camp, we were intending to camp there, but because the The event went off... De la Casu? Yes. Yeah, you're close. Concepcio.

No, after that. But because the event went off the rails, there was actually, I don't know if anybody was camping there, but we ended up doing something else that's now escaping my mind because it's one o'clock in the morning. So I'm trying to remember where the hell we ended up that night. But yeah, so we intended a camp, but we didn't. And I think we will always bring camp gear with us because it's prudent. and you know I'd like to have the extra room in my tiny little vehicle and not take tents and whatnot but I think that's the real that is the spirit of this event and we we camped one night on the 2019 Baja XL because we were at a location that didn't have hotels or what have you but if driving the vehicle that we drove we drive driving the vehicle that we drive it's exhausting I mean you're exposed it's hot it's cold the wind's blustering

your dust, this and that. So I'm not opposed at my middle-aged life. Well, otherwise, otherwise you're... Middle-aged is setting the bar too old. It's also a homage to your podcast, Slough Barha. Like, you are starting early and you're finishing late because you're not keeping up with everything these days are long and hard. No, you can't, and you can't make up speed on this event. There's just no way. And that vehicle, that vehicle is impossible to make up speed. You know, I can close on you guys.

Same with the CC2. Yeah, I can see a desk. I have to say, Dom literally was saying this exact, precise thing. I, like, that you could not, if you had a slow car, sure, you could be more efficient or more correct in your traversing of the elements, but that you would never be able to make up the time. I'm going to say it. I drove as fast as I drove on this entire event today because we had three o'clock massages booked at Encinata massage. And I had my foot to the effing floor the entire day today so we wouldn't be late.

You might need to recommend those messages. We rolled in hot. I think I'm going to have to beat Dom with his microphone. Yeah, we rolled in hot at 305. Ensenada massage. I'm not kidding. Probably the absolute best massage on the entire Baja Peninsula. straight up hot rocks, hard elbows into the...

Why do we do this podcast? You're going to be wondering that a lot more later. So anyways, that's as fast as I drove on the entire event, and I really had my foot to the floor all day today. And today was a very hard day with traffic and everything else, Sunday, drinking, all this stuff with the locals. You just, I mean, but I was like... Super Bowl.

Super Bowl, but I was picking my spots and mashed in the throttle. So ironically the the full street day is the hardest day for us exactly isn't that amazing the full street day Hey so it was the best day yeah I felt like today was cool I kind of had a little nap and it's like the other beetles got to like I mean the night before was hard the hellscape that you know don't got to take the easy route today and he the hardest it's okay thanks for having us no I'm going to say let's wrap it up so let's go on felt like complaining so it's cool No, we're going to wrap it up. We're going to go, Will, Dom, Jake, take me out. Last thoughts.

Would you do it again? Did you have a good time? I wouldn't, I mean, I would do the event again, that I would probably steer towards doing it a little differently with a crew that I trusted like these guys. Oh, my God. Wow. He's under the bus and then at the last minute you pulled us out. I let's out of a fucking furnace, man.

You're welcome. Dom, jump in. I'm just fang myself. That's all right. I'll get you. I'll cool you down. I'm very analytical. There's some certain things that really bug me.

The organization of this was a sub-par for me. I was disappointed. It's hard for me to get over it, but I will. This event allowed me, gave me the keys, to go down the Baja and really see what it's all about. It's changed my life forever, and I thank them for it. I trust that in different circumstances, this is a fantastic event from what I've heard around. however, I'm not happy what I saw, but it is an exceptional circumstance. So I would recommend it.

Wow. I think that I may question when it comes next time if my time I've done this once before, maybe it's time to do something else. So I can't say that I wouldn't do it. I'd recommend it, but I may not do it again. and Jake I am that was

it sounded in articulate but it was deeply articulate considering the conversations that Dom and I and Will have had

I told I had advised Dom despite my lack of monetary interest in the event to compartmentalize

to separate our experience experiences from his experience with the lack of organization within the trip. Because I feel like treating that immediately is very important because I feel like it was the trip of a lifetime but I had nothing to do with the monetary aspect and so I couldn't say that with blind eyes. I think it's well put. Like, it was a great event.

It was a trip of a fucking lifetime. And I honestly, I truly believe that, like, I have seen something that I won't ever see again. That, like, my eyes were upon things that I will never see. That with these guys, like, all together as a band, even if we were to do it again, as ancient folks or middle-aged folks or whatever in between, we still wouldn't have the same experience. This was truly one-of-a-kind, but I didn't pay for anything. Well, we're going to leave it right there.

Anybody have any social media that anybody can check out what you shot, what you did, what you saw? Anybody want to share that, Jake? Let's start with you and then we'll go backwards to Will. well Dom is actually our local influencer but tag Chris Winkski at Yellowcake Picks

is the production company that is behind the film that's at symbol yellow cake picks and that's on the Insta that's on the Insta I think and then

Dom Donk can do his handle. Local influencer. I'll take over. I was begrudgingly twisted into this, but have actually enjoyed it for the better part until reception became the biggest hurdle. And we fell very, we fell days behind.

So it might be a good time by the time someone listens to this to catch up because I have a backlog of content to put up. Yeah, this is going out in a year because we're going to leave this Baja Excel thing alone for a bit. No, that's perfect timing. That's real perfect timing for me. It's just my surname and I apologize for the... Cool Polish spelling.

Yeah. Hello, boys. It's at Preswonsky, which is at PR, E-Z-W-A-N-S-K-I. S-K-I. Or phonetically at Papa Romeo Echo Zulu Whiskey Alpha November. Air Killer, India. Nerd alert. Beautiful.

Pilot alert. Will. Come on, man. Nothing for me, dude. I take myself away from social media. I love it. It is all on dumb. Hey, you know what?

I want to say huge thanks and great props. You guys had great style and a beautiful old rig that I hope makes it back home to Venice Beach. And I hope our paths cross soon because it was great to surprise. you on a dirt road out in the middle of nowhere. It was nice to run into you when we were all on a full-fledged freak out about what was happening with the rally at a gas station, wherever that was. Wherever that was, it was nice to see the kids just freaking out and a couple old guys saying, eh, fuck that, let's go.

You guys were like the calm hunter as Tom's. Yeah, well, you know, the drugs had kicked in already. So a deep and sincere, hearty thanks. It's late. We've had quite an adventure, and I really want to say thanks again for making some time. for Slow Bahá. We would also like to say things, Mike. I mean, thank you. You're terrific. Slow Baja, fantastic crew.

And as influencers ourselves, we would love to promote Slobaha. This is a lot of fun. Share rate review. Click, subscribe, and like. All right. We're going to sign off right now, so thanks, guys. Slow Baja's wardrobe is provided by Taylor Stitt. I was lucky enough to wear test some items on my 3,000-mile Baja XL trip. The vertical jacket, the California shirt, which is a beautiful flannel shirt, I call it the Baja California shirt, and some white oak, beautiful, salvage denim jeans.

Put all that stuff on to make me look good in Baja, and I never took it off. I was wearing that stuff for 10 days straight. That vertical jacket is a handsome, handsome jacket. In the truck, under the truck, at dinner. Taylor Stitch, clothes that are meant to wear in. not out. Folks, you made it this far. I've got to ask you, please help us out. Rate it, review it if you're on iTunes, share it with a friend. Go to slowbaha.com or Slowbaha on Instagram or Facebook and get some stickers, hats, t-shirts. Every little bit helps me put a gallon

of gas in the old FJ40 or a taco in my belly, so please do what you can to help out. I really appreciate it.