Slow Baja - TopoTerra And Legends Overlanding Baja Safari Solutions

Episode Date: September 18, 2023

We meet Brandon Thomason and Nathan Stuart in today’s Slow Baja conversation. Brandon owns and operates TopoTerra, a leading off-grid vehicle and camping gear rental provider. Based in San Diego, California, with operations in Colorado, TopoTerra “has the rig and the gear to help you escape the daily grind.” Whether you are looking for an off-road vehicle, a rooftop tent, a camper van, a trailer, or an off-highway adventure vehicle, they have you covered! Their slogan says, “Adventure is our specialty; get out and explore today!” Nathan Stuart is a highly-respected travel guide. He’s the son of a mountaineer, diver, pilot, sailor, and backpacker, and went on his first hike strapped to his father’s chest at 16 weeks old. He learned to love the outdoors and adventure at a young age, --and moved to Baja at 18. His deep passion for nature opened a path to guiding that has him well positioned to show his guests a side of Baja few travelers see. Nathan operates Legends Overlanding and provides small-group, African Safari-style, vehicle-based adventures up and down the Baja peninsula. His experience, knowledge and meticulous attention to detail set him apart. Legends Overlanding shares Baja’s wild side, --from private chefs delivering delicious locally sourced food to expertly scouted, exclusive camp locations, Nathan can get you to where the wild things are. Check out their upcoming Loreto and El Camino Real trip here: https://www.elcaminorealbaja.com/ Learn more about TopoTerra Overland Vehicle and gear rentals here: https://www.topoterra.com/ Learn more about Nathan and Legends Overland here: https://www.legendsoverlanding.com/

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. You know, I've long said it, ask your doctor if Baja is right for you. Well, I want to say hearty thanks

to all those folks who are coming on the Slow Baja Vintage Expedition. They got the okay from their doctor and they're going to have a great time exploring Baja Norte with me. Hey folks, selfie stand up here from Slow Baja HQ. Breaking News. Over the Labor Day weekend, we had an entry transfer from the 2023, Slow Baja vintage to the 2024 event. So if you've been hankering on going with us, now is your time. Do not delay. Hit me up. Use the contact button at slowbaha.com. If you've got something night. 1993 and older or something that looks like in 1993, I'd love to have you join the fun and come to Baja with us October 15th through the 20th, San Felipe to San Felipe, one night in a hotel on either side, four nights under the stars with chef prepared meals, serviceria Trans-Peninsula when we get into camp and probably a little tequila for delays it by the campfire. So if this sounds like a little bit of the way you'd like to experience little Baja, don't delay, hit me up right now.

So if you want to get in on the 2024 Slow Baja vintage, this time in Baja sur, you got to check out the Adventures tab at Slowbaha.com. And if you have a newer rig, and a lot of folks did inquire with newer rigs, and you want a winner getaway, the Slow Baja rally is February 23 to March 3rd. It's a slow roll from San Diego down to Loretto and back. About 10 days long, we're going to have a couple of nights laying over in Loretto. I've got some ready-made adventures for you there. If you want to get off on a one-day mule packing trip or if the weather's good, you want to get out on the water, we're going to have a one-day water adventure.

There's also going to be a one-day volunteer project for folks who might want to do that. And if you've got some stuff that you need to address on your rig, well, we're going to have some hand-selected, slow-baha-approved mechanics, whether you need a welder or a tire shop or a mechanic transmission, whatever it is. We're going to have those resources for you, so it's going to be easy for you to get whatever you need addressed, addressed. You know, it's not the longest or the largest or the most miles. It's the slowest and the best miles and hopefully the most smiles. All right. For more information, check it out. It's a slowbaha rally at slowbaha.com slash adventures.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. You can always reach me through the contact link at slowbaha.com. Once again, that's February 23rd through March 3, 2024, the Slow Baja rally. Hey, hello. Thanks for tuning in to the Slow Baja. My heaping dose of gratitude goes out to Kurt Williams. I think you've heard that name before. I've mentioned him.

Kurt runs Cruiser Outfitters in Salt Lake City, and I was in Salt Lake City this past weekend for the Cruiser Fest, and Kurt was kind enough to make me his plus one for the pre-event VIP dinner at the Lane Cruiser Heritage Museum. If you dig old Land Cruiser and all Toyotos like I do, the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum is a must see. It is Slow Baja approved. Greg Miller has an incredible collection of land cruisers, and I hope that one day they'll make a spot for old Slow Baja. When I'm ready to retire, I hope they can just make one indoor, of course, parking spot in the museum for Slow Baja.

And her work can be honored there for eternity. All right. Well, today's show is with Nathan Stewart and Brandon Thomason. I've told you a little bit about Nathan before shouted him out. He was our guide when we did the second half of the Slow Baja Vintage Expedition pre-running. We hired Nathan. He was just absolutely fantastic. He runs Legends Overlanding. He's going to rerunning and the chef team for the Slow Baja Vintage. And Brandon Thompson runs Topo Terra. And I don't think I've told you about Topo Terra before. A Topo Terra specializes in off-grid vehicle and camping rentals.

They've got a bevy of beautiful Baja ready rigs, whether you need a big old Dodge Ram pickup or Toyota Tacoma or Toyota Tundra or Revelvans, Topo Terra has you covered in the beauty of these two between Nathan Stuart's knowledge and guiding services and Brandon's top top notch equipment, you can go anywhere. You put those two together. You can go anywhere. So if you're interested in doing a Baja drive, Brandon can wrench you the gear and Nathan can show you where to go. And that's what we're going to talk about today on Slow Baja.

I don't know if I've ever done a podcast with the dog helping out. Kaya, nice to see you again. We ran into Kaya. I think I sat down next to Kaya at Nathan. Was that your show, your lecture on police and border crossings? Yes. Cops and Cowboys at the Expo. Cops and Cowboys at Overland Expo.

And I sat down next to this beautiful dog, Kaya. All right, well, I think audio levels are good. Yep, does that sound good? You guys got your thinking caps on? Nope. I try not to think. Otherwise, it doesn't work. Just got to wing it.

Wing it. I asked Nathan if you were sending us questions. I was like, you know what, never mind. That's just going to make it worse. Meaning of life. Things like that. Brandon, you're going to have to control your exuberance or you're going to blow everybody's ear drums out as they listen. Now, they're zoned into my tequila and dust voice.

And if you blow it up with your DJ voice. That might be a problem then. I'll do my best. Do you try and keep it at. Like 12, right? I'm just trying to make it sound good. That's all. So, like, it's going up to 8 decibels?

Oh, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3. Yeah, you're bouncing to 12 there. You're good. You sound perfect. Because we're going to get happier than that. Like, we're acting like this, but we're not going to be in a minute. And keep us at 6 and we'll hit 12. Yeah, exactly.

All right. You can turn it up. You can't turn it down once it pings. Is this live or do you? Do you edit it after? No, we did. This is live. This is going to the interweb right now.

Hey, man, you never know these days. Hey, it's Slow Baja, and we've got a travel talk today with Nathan Stewart of Legends Overlanding and Brandon Thomason of Topo Terra and Kaya. Hello, Kaya. You want to say hello? We're doing a podcast with my good old friend, Kaya, from the Overland Expo, who I sat down next to during Nathan Stewart's lectures on what was the subject, cops and cowboys? Cops and cowboys. I think I had another catchphrase to try to draw them in. Well, we just had a fabulous week in Baja. Nathan was our guide. All guides have guides.

All guides have guides. All guides have guides. Any guide that tells you doesn't have a guide is getting served the line. You got to go with the local knowledge. And Nathan was a guide. We did 1,100 miles or so in five-ish days and found some really phenomenal routes scouting for the Slow Baja Vintage Expedition and the Speed Deluxe Baja Expedition. And off the mic here is Adam Sfeard, who is my partner in that endeavor, and we are excited for that event. Because Adam, did he get kicked out because of something he did, or did we just not have another mic? No, no, we have another mic. Adam and I are going to talk about what we're doing next.

Sorry, Adam. In another podcast, we're going back to back. I think he's big enough guy he can come over and take the mic away from me if he needs to. What we learned about Adam on this trip is rocks, but we're not going to talk about rocks. No, honestly, hey, we had a great trip, and the newfound adoration I have for Raptors is real. I'm just going to say that. Until you have to replace the engine. Crafters are amazing vehicles.

But the reason we're here today is you guys I met at Overland Expo when I was sitting down to listen to about how I should approach police officers and border crossings and military checkpoints and all that in Paha. And trying to learn a little something. Sat down next to this beautiful Brindle Boxer, Kaya, and happened to meet a guy who I've been admiring through the internet for quite. a while, Brandon, and you've got this amazing company, Topo Terra, where you run out these really tricked out, fully built out overland trucks. Yep, that's what we do. Unfortunately, we build them way too crazy, so we don't make any money, but it's great for the customers. We've got, I think, eight rigs now here in San Diego, and then another three in our Colorado location and plan to keep on growing.

How did you sort that out? Why did you say, like, this is what I'm going to do, provide this astonishing service for folks? Well, I sold a previous business and wasn't doing a whole lot, so I got involved in the RV rental industry with a handful of RVs and kind of learned the ins and outs of the rental industry, and I saw overlanding kind of getting more and more popular and decided to give it a shot.

So we bought one truck. put a rack and a tent on it, and it started going pretty well. And, you know, kind of just one thing led to another, and I've just kind of slowly grown it and grown it. It's still just a side business, but we're hoping eventually that it can potentially become the full-time business, but we're not there yet. Well, you guys have more or less teamed up,

if I'm correct in my assessment. Yep. That basically, if I want to describe this correctly, somebody can come to San Diego, rent a fully kidded truck from you, Brandon. I'm pointing to Brandon here in the podcast land. And Nathan, you can then guide them on a phenomenal voyage of the cert we just took. Obviously, you'll have the routes pre-planned and the chef hired and the campsites fully dialed. We were scouting on this trip, so it won't be exactly.

But that's quite a duo. That's quite a combo to actually know that your trucks are going to be looked after properly. Yep. Or at least have a chaperone for them. Yep. And for you to be able to have folks have this major league adventure in a vehicle that, you know, if maybe they're thinking about, hey, I'd really love to get into this overlanding thing. They don't have to go put the, I'm not going to, I'm going to take a stab. And at the $85 or $100,000 it takes to build one of these things.

You're right about there. Yeah, I mean, I'm guessing. I'm guessing. But that's amazing. So how did you two get started working together? For me, it's, it was. This is Nathan here. We didn't go for the full introductions.

We didn't catch the voice. Nathan. It's pretty amazing. Well, when I started doing guided trips down in Baja, I was, you know, I'm not for a Southern California guy that's been coming to Baja his whole life. A lot of guys are fine on their own going to Baja and they've been doing it forever and they've got a ton of experience doing it. But people that are coming from further away back east or Europe or something like that that don't know the ropes and it's their first time in Baja, them coming out and me being able to guide them through getting across the border and everything that is northern Baja, central Baja, having a vehicle that. they can rent and get off the airport and get out of the airport and rent from Brandon and then come down with me. It's perfect because I was concerned about the fact that like my reach was only people for the most part that would drive their vehicle down.

Well, I mean, it's not going to go much further than maybe Texas. There's been some crazy people that came from Florida and New York, but usually ship their vehicles and stuff like that. But usually they're in this area. So having Brandon opens me up to the world. So anywhere in the world can fly in San Diego and be in Baja a day. So that's cool. Yeah, I think we solve a need for each other, right? Nathan doesn't have vehicles.

I have vehicles. And a lot of our customers wanted and asked about, you know, different experiences and guided trips and food and all of that stuff. And we just weren't in a position to be able to offer that at the time. And so when we stumbled across each other's businesses, it was a mutually synergistic partnership. and you know Nathan's modest you know his trips are very experiential and everything you get from start to finish is a really really good experience and so even if you are somebody that's been going

to Baja your whole life there's still something to be said about going on one of Nathan's trips right every detail is planned out and thought out meticulously you know from the root to the activities to the food and and all of that and it's a really good experience for people. Yeah, I can attest for bouncing around Baja for nearly 40 years, 40 years next year. I learned

a lot, saw a lot, and did it with a level of comfort that I am not accustomed to, and I'm hoping that when I get back in my Shielmans and my old FJ 40, I'm not going to be fully spoiled, but Nathan really does know us... 40's not going to help you, but this Shilman will.

Yeah, and Nathan really does know his stuff. Shilman is a seat, by the way. I'm sure most of your listeners know, She'll only. I hope so. Nathan, can we talk a little bit about your background and how you ended up finding yourself guiding tours in Baja? Because I think your backstory is kind of interesting. Okay, I moved to Mexico when I was 18. I came down with youth group from a Central Coast church. It was a humanitarian trip to go build homes for the poor in Encinada and didn't really have a lot of interest in Mexico. I got to do the politically correct version right on this story.

You can say whatever you like. We edit. No, you don't, you don't do that. It might be a very short podcast. You can even run around me a truck for a week. You know better. So, yeah, I fell in love with Ensenada. I fell in love with Mexico, the food, the surf. and so I stayed. So from 18 to...

Hang on for just a second. I know a little bit of this story because of the week we just spent together. But basically, after your service trip, building these homes, everybody goes home and you just decide you're staying. Yeah. Wait, you literally just stayed?

I did stay. Yeah. So I didn't stay, like, 11 years from that trip. But like we came down for a summer missions trip. everybody went home that week and I finished out the season. So I finished out like two months in Ensenada at the base just volunteered, did whatever. It was built homes all summer.

And then went home, worked a winner. And the following summer I was 18 and I was driving to Ensenada and a 86 four runner listening to Santana and smoking a Cuban. I thought Santana was Mexican music. It turns out it's not. And, uh, wait what? Yeah, continued to, uh, be proven wrong. Shout out, Carlos Santana.

I just saw you in Chicago a couple weeks ago. You can still bring it at 75 years old, Carlos Santana. Yeah, and he still plays in Tijuana. I don't know when the last time, but I know he's been down there playing. He's from Tijuana, right? I don't know. I thought he's from San Francisco. Maybe.

I thought he was from Tijuana. Somebody fact-checked us. And now a word from our sponsor. Dun-d-d-d-d-dun-d-d-d-d-d-d-no. No, pick it up. So you stayed. I stayed, worked with Youth with the Mission, was the organization, worked with them for six years, met my wife, and I got out of the ministry and started doing almost anything to stay in Mexico and have, you know, make a living. So I did real estate. I was a surf guide. I was a paper pusher in government offices. I was already speaking Spanish at the time because I'd gone to Guala Harra for a year. year to learn the language.

And then in 2011, 12, I worked in the wine industry for quite a few years in Valleaupe, worked for Hugo da Costa, and worked at La Scuilita in Casa de Piedra and several other wineries in the area Cinque Estreyes and got to know kind of the, not the beginnings, but the young beginnings, I guess, of Vaguayalupe, because there was beginnings. in the 80s of international wines being made there, but I kind of came in when there was like all these young guns coming up that are now rock stars in Valuayua Lupe, and it was an amazing community.

Still is a very tight community of people. Loved all that. And then working in the wine industry, in Vaguayalupe, 2011, 12, I think I moved back to the Central Coast of California with my ex-wife now at the time, or ex-wife now. Your wife at the time.

And then I worked up in Central Coast in the wine industry for another 11 years. I was doing, I was ranch managing and doing a bunch of stuff there. And then I worked at Tablas Creek, which is an amazing winery. If you haven't been to Tavvis Creek and Pasozovilles, they're the most incredible people. And whatever you're hearing in the front of that winery, it's cooler than what they're they're saying, which I would say is not true for most places. They always tell a story and it's about half as good as what they say. I would say the story is so good that they can't keep up with it in the front of that tasting room. Now, hang on. Okay. You were a shepherd. Yeah. I was a shepherd for...

I mean, I just don't get to meet enough shepherds in my life. I mean, I know I'm doing my show. I'm getting around. I'm meeting a lot of people, but dang, when was the last time I met a shepherd? I cannot tell you. Yeah. Yeah, I don't spend too much time. on YouTube. I was in the wine industry in Vaguayalupe. I watched some YouTube video of some guys running sheep in a vineyard in, I think it was up in Canada. I met up. I called a guy, I'm not going to remember his name right now, but that was running sheep in vineyards and cattle in vineyards and trying out some grazing and vineyard stuff. And I, if he hears this, he's going to be mad because he's a good guy and a good friend.

No, but this is basically weed control inside of a vineyard. It's just weed control in the vineyard. So what inspired me to do weed control in vineyard is Casa de Piedre, which is very famous winery in Valley Walupa, owned by Ugo da Costa, had, I don't know, I think they've replanted some stuff, but they had a vineyard of chardonnay that was planted so close you couldn't run a tractor through it.

So they have what we call crabgrass growing in that vineyard, and we would hoe it all by hand and we would finish hoeing and we would just start again because it would have grown back before we even finished. And I was like, this is insane. We can't do this. And I heard about sheep grazing in vineyards and I'm like, I don't, my back wants sheep to do this. And it took a gringo that didn't have strong enough back to dream of that. And so yeah, nobody wanted to do it in Bauguayalupe at the time. Now there's a bunch of people. running sheep in Valualuale lupé, which is cool. And moved back to Paso, started running sheep

in vineyards there, and eventually was running sheep at Tablas Creek before I moved back down here in 2011. Yeah, I got divorced right before COVID, and yeah, I was ready to come back to Baja. So opportunity came up. Nathan Mueller, who is my partner. He has a YouTube channel and does a lot of overlanding stuff. And he'd been down on trips with me before, and he was like, man, we should do something in Baja. So we started Legends Overlanding. The rest is history. The rest is going to be history.

Brandon, before you jump in here, Nathan, can you tell me what exactly Legends Overlanding does? because I will admit, honestly, I've put you on a pedestal as a tour operator that just operates. Isn't Instagram amazing? It's the illusion? I mean, I hate to say it. But, you know, I did really say this guy is operating in a class by himself in a league of his own and now teamed up with Topo Taro and getting these great rigs. It's really astonishing, frankly, that somebody knows what they're doing, cares about how they're doing it,

has access to equipment that is absolutely top-noburn. notch and literally can go almost anywhere within reason, it opens up this incredible opportunity for folks to have a world-class vacation doing something that's kind of, you know, has been nitty, gritty, come up hard, wreck your vehicle, do a bunch of dumb stuff when you're young and keep refining, keep refining, keep making it more comfortable. But like, you know, where did you decide that you were doing East African safari-style experiences or now maybe South African safari style experiences with portable tents, portable bathrooms, portable showers, you know, all this stuff, a chef sourcing things locally.

I mean, it's just mind-blowing that you're putting that level of effort into showing people Baja. Yeah, I think there's one of the things we saw was that there was, there's already a bunch of people doing it really well at as far as like come down, race really fast through Baja, get the tacos, crash some beer, crush some beers, and, and get out and what happens in Mexico stays in Mexico kind of mentality. And because I, there's anything wrong with that. There's a place for that. And the, and there's a bunch of people already doing that really well. And I didn't want to do that. So being, having been in the wine industry, I kind of turned

into a foodie and Sonata's an amazing place for food. Insanehine. Insane. It's really, I don't know. I might be ignorant, but I'm pretty sure it's not comparable to anything on the West Coast at this point. It's amazing food. Can I just trouble you to tell me about what you ate for breakfast this morning at Ascama? I had queso biria de pescado. It was a fish, cheese, taco. It's biria made of fish. Yeah, miria made of fish with the sauce. With cheese and a taco like it's street food. Yeah. And it was off the hook. It was amazing. French toast that was like three inches thick. Yeah, you forced a half a taco on me.

And it really truly was an amazing experience. And that breakfast was, that was a scama. And that was, what, 180 pesos for breakfast. So, uh, 12 bucks per person. Something like that, yeah. But it looks like it was a $35 breakfast. And we had really fancy coffees. Yeah.

We had. Cortados. Those cortados. Spoiled us. Yeah. But yeah, so the fact that I was in the wine industry and already kind of exposed to really fine dining and I never liked cooking camping. I was just bringing dried stuff and I just didn't really like messing with it. I was always motivated to get a chef that could cook for me.

So we started looking into getting a chef. a local chef in Encinada, and we found Alex Burroughs, who works for us, and he's amazing, young, talented chef, went to the university in Ensenada for culinary arts, and we've had a lot of amazing meals in really, really remote places in Baja, and I get a kick out of it, getting the food as locally sourced, as incredible as it can be, like, paired with amazing local wines in really remote places. I'm going to continue to push that envelope probably forever. I love it.

And he seems to take that role rather seriously. I mean, he's into it. He is into it. He is into he has a pride and wants to show what he can create in these remote locations with these phenomenal ingredients that he's sourcing by, you know,

sometimes diving for them himself or you know, finding for the local, the best of the local markets. It's amazing. Yeah, and he, uh, he enjoys, he enjoys the traveling. He enjoys camping. He enjoys remote places and seeing new places. And then he gets really excited about sourcing stuff locally wherever we go. And that's really important to me because I, I feel like it makes your experience camping in Baja. There's, there's the visual element, there's the, the feel, there's the smells, and there's also the taste. You get to taste. You get to take. the places that you're going to.

Our meat is going to be locally sourced. The fish is going to, I mean, oysters are going to be pulled out of the water the day we eat them from where we are. Making all that effort to where you really get that fresh ingredient. It's just makes it three-dimensional. Yeah, it makes it next level. Brandon, can you jump in and just run through your inventory of what is available for your clients? Yeah. So here in San Diego,

We have three Toyota Tacomas, one of which has a GoFast camper on it. And then another that has an Alucab camper on it. And then the third one is our new 2023 TRD Pro. And we went with a newer company called Gaia camper for that one to test out. Then we have two ram power wagons, both with GoFast campers on them. And then we have a Toyota Tundra that's kind of one of our, more simpler builds, let's call it. So it's got a shell on it and some racks and then an Alucab tent, not the full camper,

just the tent. And then we have two Winnebago Revelle camper vans as well. Is that eight? Yeah. So that's the eight we have here in San Diego. And then in Colorado, we just opened up our Colorado location. We tested it out last summer with one vehicle. And then this year, this summer we launched with a camper van.

a Toyota Tacoma and then a trailer for people. And then we're going to keep building that location up as well. And of course, your clients are not always going to Baja with Nathan. No, but so Baja from like March or excuse me from like October through March, April is really busy for Baja for us. So I would say it's probably 60 to 70% of our rentals. Awesome. During that time frame.

And then the rest of the year, we've got people that are kind of going all over the country, you know. We get like one of our Tacomas is leaving for 90 days on Sunday. So guys flying in from Europe and bringing his two big dogs and just doing a sabbatical for 90 days. One of the other one leaves tomorrow for 30 days. They're doing kind of a Utah and Colorado loop back to California. So we and then we get the local people, you know, especially during the winter's wintertime and fall and spring droshoa tree you know all that kind of stuff local desert onzeborego

all those things um but a lot of our summer clientele is coming from out of the country so this year this summer it picked back up again um you know obviously during covid people weren't traveling as much from out of the country we did get pretty busy during covid once things were opened back up um with a lot of local travel and then now this year is when all of the the people come from out of the country are coming back. So that's good for us. You've got some pent up demand. Yeah, yeah.

People from out of the country really enjoy this stuff as well. We get a lot of people from Canada, a lot of people from the UK, a couple of people from Australia. We just had a guy flying for his 50th birthday from Dubai with 10 of his best friends. And we delivered four trucks to Las Vegas for them. and then they did a whole 2,500 mile loop all the way to Colorado and back and did white rim trail and a bunch of other stuff. And then we picked the trucks back up in Vegas. So kind of a lot of different customers for this.

It kind of seems like this overlanding thing might be here to stay for a bit. Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see how it all plays out, you know. I think we try to educate people on, you know, leave no trace and being responsible and making sure that they don't ruin things for the future. So we try to educate people on that as much as we can. Luckily, there's been no issues with any of our vehicles so far. And I try to do a pretty good job vetting people, not only to protect our vehicles, but to make sure they're the right customer for us. We don't like people to go out and do dumb stuff in our vehicles. Yeah, they're wrapped. Your name's on the door. Every, well, not all of them. Yeah, I keep the branding pretty minimal on them. So you're saying we're not going to

buy a rafter for the fleet? No, definitely not. Yeah, with my name, Slow Baja, painted in large letters on both sides of my truck, I have to always, you know, be thoughtful in my approach, which, you know, it's not hard for me. That's where I live. I'm living the brand. Yeah, it's not quite as bad as some of the people that have giant rent-me stickers all over their vehicles. You'll never see that with Trameterra. But, hey, to each their own, right? Are you a bit of a gear geek at heart? A gear geek? Yeah.

I mean, listen, you're sourcing a different stuff and you're able to really test, you know, whether you like the go fast camper or the alum a cab. Is that, let me get it right. Alu cab. I just said a luma cab. Alu cab and go fast and now you've got a guy. You're really able to sort these things. What are people doing inside the truck? What have you set up for inside?

It's pretty complete, I understand. Yeah, so most of the trucks have decked storage systems in there just to keep it simple. And nice pull-out drawers. And then we stocked all the vehicles with an exorbitant amount of gear. So our kind of thing is you show up with your food and your clothes and that's really all you need. And then, of course, we have, you know, additional items like Starlink and paddle boards and garment stuff and, you know, all the extra things. but for the most part you know you just show up with your food and your clothes and you're good to go so we have kind of an all inclusive price that includes all the gear we didn't used to do it that way

but you know we found that as people are coming from out of the country it's just there's more and more people wanting things and so i like to just keep the trucks you know clean and stocked and then when they're when they need to go they're ready to go so and then i don't have to pack all my stuff every time i want to go camp either they're just there and ready so What have you learned over the years as far as not to do this business? No, I say that. I joke about that all the time. I mean, it's a, it's an interesting business.

You know, it's got its ups and downs. And, you know, obviously the vehicles are getting used. And there's a lot of wear and tear on them. And so it's, it's been challenging navigating that and just figuring out the right pricing that makes sense for people to pay. But that also makes sense for us as a business. business. You know, I go above and beyond with the campers, like you mentioned earlier. And I didn't start that way. We started with more basic builds, but I'm trying to really build a brand and provide an experience that people are going to remember and come back to. And plus, I like all the

different things. So I've always had multiple vehicles ever since I was in high school. And I just like having a little bit of everything, you know. And then I keep the camper variety different because I want if somebody wants to buy one of these campers they're very expensive or some of them are very expensive and so we try to be a place where people can come try the campers out before they buy them as well you know I'm still marveling at at again the the approach the expenditure the thoroughness and the willingness to put these things together and then turn them over you're you're you're honestly in my opinion the kind of sense the word you're a little bit of a dreammaker making this stuff happen.

Yeah. That's the beauty of it is like every customer, I mean, he says with like an eye roll. Like, yeah. I'm laughing over here. I mean, we,

we've, we've had a couple questionable customers and that's about it, right? Everyone is like, so your vetting has worked for the most part. Yeah, I do vet, especially for Baja. I try to,

I try to vet. I say no to business, you know, every once in a while. And if I don't get the right feeling from somebody, and it's not that we're being judgmental. It's just that, you know,

it's a very expensive vehicle. and you're going into the middle of nowhere usually and we just want people that are going to not only take care of our vehicles but take care of themselves and make sure they're putting themselves in positions that you know they're going to be safe and whatnot right yeah um and you know you kind of have to disconnect from the vehicles a bit um which was hard to learn in the beginning i learned that with my RVs and those rentals because they got damaged all the time and the first couple times it happened it was like oh my gosh i can't believe this you know and you're all bummed out about it. And then eventually you disconnect from it and just realize that it is a business

and their business assets. And do I enjoy when they get damaged? No, but it's part of part of the deal. You've realized that it happens. Yeah, we do the best we can. We put, we put things in place and, you know, insurance and all of those things. And luckily we haven't had too many crazy things yet. Well, with your mention of insurance, we're going to take a quick break so we can put in a good word for our friends, Baja Bound, who are at the Baja Beach Bash right now, but we'll be right back after a word from our sponsors. Here it's Little Baja, we can't wait to drive our old land cruiser south of the border. And when we go, we'll be going with Baja Bound Insurance.

Their website's fast and easy to use. Check them out at Bajabound.com. That's Bajabound.com, serving Mexico traveler since 1994. for. Big thanks to my new sponsor Nomad Wheels. They stepped up and sponsored the Slow Baja Safari class at the Nora Mexican 1000, and I don't know if you've seen the pictures, but Slow Baja is running a set of 501 convoys in utility gray, and they look pretty damn sharp. They were a little shiny. I will admit that. They were a little shiny when I got them installed at Basil's Garage just before the Norah Mexican 1,000, but after, I don't know, 3,800 miles of Baja dirt,

they look perfect. They really do. Nomad. wheels.com. That's right. Check them out, reflecting a minimalist approach to off-road travel nomad nomad wheels.com. Hey, we're back. Brandon Thompson. I'm just laughing at myself, my short-term memory issues. We're back with Brandon Thomason and Topo Terra and Nathan Stewart from Legends Overlanding. We're talking about this great duo that Brandon can rent you the right vehicle and Nathan can put you in the right spot and it can make for an amazing vacation. Before we took the break, Brandon was talking about the things that can sometimes go awry and, and, you know, people follow their GPS. You know, things look like a road. And sometimes it takes you in the wrong spot. Yeah. And, you know, we were working hard

finding a new, a new route. We looked at it on the map. We looked it wasn't on the map. My friends at benchmark maps, the route we took was not on the map. So that's there for a reason. But it was in the old Baja Almanac, had some little dotted line in there. So we thought, well, you know, we've got the benchmark map in paper. We've got the benchmark app on the phone.

We've got the Baja Almanac on the phone. And we've got your running Gaia, correct? And so some crazy son of a ran that trail. And he did public track, which this is a word to everybody on Gaia, turn off your public tracks, because I will use them, turn them off. And honestly, you know,

we did not have a formalized agreement with liabilities assigned, but I thought I could end up buying a raptor on this trip because the raptor was for sale. And luckily we had Big Adam over here, stacking rocks, and Adam loves rocks. So it was a great fit for him. It was 106 degrees.

he's a big strapping guy. And Nathan loves rocks too. So the two of them were out there playing with the rocks, moving rocks around. Because what it looked like, what it looked like was a road from space, but what it turned out to be was a creek. Yeah, it was more creek than road, for sure. It was a rocky creek. It was a rocky creek, yeah. That was only an inch wider than a raptor in many, many, many, many, many places.

Sounds like I missed out. Yeah, you would have. The sound of scratching was constant and real. Yeah, you had to get very close to the shrubbery on the edge of the creek. Yeah, I've got some palo verde scratches down the side. On your gray truck. Gray truck, yeah. We got into San Felipe, and the security guard at the hotel was asking you the color of your deep maroon truck.

So he could write it down on his report. And he said, gris, gris, your truck is gray? Like, no, dude, it's not gray at all. Look again. He was on the Takades? I don't know what he was on. It was the amount of dust that I think was on our truck. I'm a doctor because it was not right.

You think it was, remember you? It was gray before. Did he remember you from before? No, no, I've never met the guy. It was dark out, but it didn't look gray at all. I don't get that. No, I think it was the dust. Yeah, yeah.

So getting back to you, Nathan, and we're going to get past your work as a shepherd. but you did shepherd us. You really did shepherd us onto some pretty phenomenal roads that, I mean, we needed to nail this trip. We had pre-run this thing before in May and worked a lot of pages of that benchmark map and just hadn't gotten it all dialed 100 percent. And you got us there. And you're kind of insane about this stuff. You're obsessive about this.

You're driven in the kind of sense of the word. You're driven. Like, you can't stop looking. Goat trail. Single track. You know, where does that dirt road go? We turned down a lot of dirt roads, got to a locked gate or whatever. But if we saw it, A, you were making a note of it.

B, you were marking on your guy at C, sometimes we were physically driving down it. And that's the kind of stuff that you hear from these racers who started racing Baja in the 60s. Yeah. That when they'd fly back from. a race in their, you know, in a little tiny plane, they're flying over these roads and sort of drawing them and trying to figure out, you know, to make a note to come back. I got to come back to this place. Bit by the bug. Yeah, you can't stop and you can't hide it. Yeah. It's kind of like your rock thing. The rock thing has gotten, I'm blaming on Vanessa and by, uh, she's got me

obsessed with rocks now. The only thing worse that you're obsessed about is shooting content. Shooting content, rocks, and then roads. I don't. don't know where they go. It's definitely, yeah, we went down some really cool roads that there's just those parts of the map that you don't have any tracks on haunt you all the time and you're like that could be the next amazing spot that I haven't seen. And if I ever see a post on Baja on Instagram and I don't know where it is, it really, really bothers me. And I, I'll call in like friends and be like, where is this? I can't tell. And so Adam's seeing one of your posts recently.

He sent it to me immediately. He says, where is this? Yeah. Yeah, I enjoy exploring Baja and I'm 42 and I'm too late. Yeah, let me... More than I'll ever see. Let me interrupt. Do you think that's in your DNA?

I mean, your mother and father were both adventurous explore. explorers, your father, you know, a mountain climber, snow guy. I mean, maybe you can talk a little bit about where you came from and where your DNA comes from as far as the exploration thing. It's real. Yeah. My father was, he did, I think it was, Summit Expeditions, was in the Sierras. He used to guide trips, group trips backpacking in the Sierras. We do. that every summer. And so I remember when I was little, we'd go up and stay all summer in the Cierras, and he would do these guided trips. And I was hanging out with washed up 60s and 70s rock climbers from Yosemite. So these guys were slightly crazy. They had names like bear and wolf.

The original dirt bags. Yeah, the original dirt bags. And literally it was a big log cabin with a bunch of nasty mattresses stacked on the porch and everybody just grab a mattress and go lay down in the woods somewhere. So I grew up with like the climbing culture and then my dad's been a pilot. He's a, he's been a sailor for 30 years, scuba diver. My mom was scuba diving, rock climbing. No, she wasn't rock climbing, but backpacking. And if it was backpacking, it wasn't backpacking on trails. It was always cross country. So the obsession with maps and going where you thought nobody would be, started very young. I think that was probably the biggest thing.

I knew how to read a topo map by the time I was eight, you know, and I was very much into maps. And my dad was obsessed when we would pack for a backpacking trip. We would pack our whole backpack, and then dad would make us lay it all out on the floor in the living room, and he would go through. And he was like, that's too many pairs of underwear.

You only need one shirt. You don't need that jacket. And I'm like, well, oh, oh, oh. And you go through and just Nazi go. I'm not carrying your pack. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, my first backpacking trip was at 16 weeks, and he wore me on a backpack.

And yeah, so I definitely had that ingrained to me at a young age, just kind of a love for the outdoors and appreciation for getting away from everybody as much as you can to enjoy that. And then growing up on the Central Coast in California, it's just incredible. Brandon's from the Central Coast, too. and so we've kind of connected even more because we grew up in the same place and have the same,

a lot of the same friends. And it's an amazing, amazing place to grow up. It's a beautiful, beautiful part of California. Yeah. So that's where that came from. And again, it's real. I saw it five, five, six days in a row, just, you know, head on a swivel, checking this, looking at that.

I'm in the backseat sitting directly behind you because Starlink and our bags. and everything else took up the seat next to me. And I just kept thinking to myself, does this guy see where he's going? How's he, how's he see where he's going? He's driving, but he's checking out that trail. But you can't stop. And I think that's something that as a guide offering guiding services,

it's legit. There's no stopping it. I mean, nobody goes into the guiding business for the money. It's like making art or something like that. You only do it because you can't do anything. anything else or you can't stop doing it. Whoa, whoa, whoa. No, I mean, you know, I mean, sorry.

You're hearing this guy, Brandon? Yeah. And so let's talk. I can cook an egg. Yeah. So let's talk a little bit about what's coming up. You've got some interesting stuff coming up. You've got a big turtle back trailer trip.

You've got some stuff coming up with Brandi. You guys, who wants to dive in and talk about what's coming up on the calendar? We're talking here in July. I'll do the first one, you do the second. So the first, um, Well, you know, we do trips every month, so you can go into legendsoverlanding.com, and we've got trips up for every month of the year, that we basically chase the weather. So my goal is definitely to convince the world that Baja is nice in the summer when everybody thinks it's Phoenix, Arizona.

Hey, the Pacific side is great. And the high elevation sides are great. Hundreds of miles on the Pacific side won't get above 75, 80 degrees all summer long. and the mountains too. So you can get up to 8,000 feet and keep it at 75 even in the middle of summer. And when, what, Death Valley hit 50 degrees, 4 Celsius? Yeah, well, I mean, like, Arizona's had over 110 for three weeks or something. When you guys are sick of it, Baja's really nice in the summer.

So, yeah, we've got trips all year. October 5th through the 9th. We partnered up with Turtleback, which we're super happy to see that they're back because they was pause and they have new owners. Turtleback trailers, folks. Turtleback trailers, yeah. And so it's a trip just for Turtleback trailer owners and they get a discount thanks to Turtleback to come on this trip.

All our trips are only six spots, which means we can go further. We can get into smaller spaces. You're not spending your whole vacation waiting for people to air up. That's why we keep the trips small. The group's small. It keeps it intimate. It's enough people to have a blast around the fire, but not so many people that's slowing us down too much.

Boutique experience. Yeah, very much. And so yeah, so we're doing a whole northern Baja loop with the turtleback trailer guys. They're affectionately known as the herd, the herd of turtles. I don't know. I guess this is a thing. Is this before my time? The herd of turtles.

It's hard to herd turtles. What? It's hard to herd turtles. heard turtles. Yeah. You can't hear cats. Yeah. That's what I push strings.

Yeah. That's what my dad says. So yeah, if you're in the tour guiding business, these comments are, we know. So yeah, but we've got people coming for that in October and then got another trip. Already people booked in September, September, wait, September, October, November, some people are booked. and then December, I'll let you take it, Brandon. We're doing another awesome trip. Yeah, so Nathan and I have been talking about, you know,

how we can explore further down the peninsula. And, you know, the issue for people is timing, right? So not everybody can take the time that it needs to get their vehicle all the way down the peninsula. Damn Americans who just can't get out of work. Right. So, you know, we've put together a new program. It's called El Camino Real.

It's going to be December 26th through January 1st. So starts and ends in Laredo, and we're going to have all of the vehicles down there ready and waiting for people. And kind of explore that whole region, the beautiful beaches, the desert scenery, the old missions, all of those things. And obviously the same level of experience that Legends Overlanding usually provides with our vehicles and kind of elevate it a little bit further with some more activity. and excursions and things like that. And we'll end on New Year's Eve back in Laredo and we'll do a big New Year's Eve dinner party overlooking the ocean and all that. So that's the program that we've put together.

We're releasing it next week and kind of teasing it next week and we'll start slowly releasing information and we'll go on sale here in a couple weeks and very limited eight spots. Nathan wants six. I'm pushing him for eight because that's the only. way to make it work financially. But yeah, it'll be a really cool event. I mean, we partner all the time, but this one we're really kind of both, you know, promoting it together, marketing it together.

And it's kind of a new brand for both of us. Well, I saw a lot of it coming through when Nathan is working hard at 10 o'clock at night. He's got a Starlink up. We're trying to get some tacos in us. And he's approving text and copy and images and fixing stuff for this. Yeah, but I've already changed now since he approved all that stuff. Oh my gosh. And then when we released the Turtleback trip, I had all this.

So Sarah is our amazing secretary. She helps us a ton. She's in Idaho. And if you're one of our customers, you've worked directly with Sarah a lot and gotten emails from her. And she's awesome and fixes our website and stuff. So I went on and broke all the website the night before we were releasing the herd trip. And so I was like on the phone with her somewhere in the world with the Starlink,

you know, like, I broke the website, I need you to help me. I know it's late. She got on and was gracious as usual. She's amazing. So thank you so much, Sarah. I wouldn't be able to do this without Sarah. All right, Brandon, tell us where's the best place to find out about Topotero? Topotera.com.

Topotera.com. You're also on Instagram. I see you. Yeah, Topo under Sportera. I see your beautiful images. Thank you. One more time. Topo underscore Terra.

T-O-P-O-U-S-E-R-A. Nathan, what's the best way for folks to follow you, find out about what's going on? PayPal. You just had legends. No, I'm just kidding. Hey, let's stop right here for a second. So we just rolled 1,100 miles in your truck. And, you know, I mean, we're not old buddies.

We've known you since Overland, right? And I'm a pretty good judge of character. first of all, satellite radio. Like, okay, you know, like, I don't have any music or anything. You know, the only sound I have in my land cruiser is a sound of wind making me deaf. And the sound of my old six-cylinder engine just, you know, working its tail off. And the sound of me grinding gears, right? And so we've got satellite radio and you've got Willie Nelson's channel.

And it's a soundtrack of my youth. This is exactly what was in every pickup that my dad had. the old Ford, the Toyota, the Volkswagen Camper, all these things. Every iteration, however it was sold, you know, that's, you know, 8-track, cassette, CD, that's soundtrack my youth. So that was wonderful. But you've got a crazy enjoyment of classic American radio and classic American comedy. We listen to a lot of it, and it's wonderful and cornball, where did that come from? Um, well, my, my grandpa raised me on that old country music. And, um, as a young teenager, he was my serious wingman.

It was like you'd go to the movie store to rent a movie and he was like, she's a cute. I'm like, grandpa, don't say anything. But yeah, I just love my grandpa. He rode motorcycles till way after the doctor said he could and died sitting on his motorcycle living just the way. he wanted to till the end. And yeah, I just, I got stuck on that country music. And then my dad was a big old movie buff. So, you know, Carrie Grant and Bing Crosby and Bob Hope and all that stuff. So the classic radio on, we're not doing a commercial for satellite radio.

Okay, if you have satellite radio and you're paying too much to tell them you're going to stop paying and they'll give you a huge discount. I'm just telling everybody out there. That's how it works. That's how it works. Just tell them you're quitting and they'll be like, actually, you don't have to pay that much. We'll do it for six bucks. It's $1.50 for 12 months.

Yeah. All right. But yeah, satellite radio. Willie Nelson's, what is it? Willie's roadhouse is. All right. So we've got topotera.com. Toppeter on Instagram.

T-O-P-O- underscore T-E-R-R-A. And Legendsoverlanding. dot com and same at legends overlanding on instagram and legends over landing on facebook and all that stuff so and so people i think we're on twitter too and youtube yeah and just so people don't think that you're a pompous jerk with the legends part tell me about where the name came from yeah that was there's a story behind i've been always been nervous about that title legends like um it came from the fact that Baja is such an incredibly rough and rugged piece of dirt. It just by default has made these incredible personalities. The people that make it and survive it and stay and live there,

they're a different breed of people and it breeds legends. And so being a young kid and going to Baja, you meet these people and you hear about these people and you hear these stories. It's just Baja's full of lullabies, legends, and lies, as Bobby Bear would say. And it fascinated me. I just love the story element of Baja. It's always, I can't tell a story that's too ridiculous for you to not believe it when it comes to Baja. I could say that I just saw a truck with an elephant drive by and it could have happened.

Or a truck fully. loaded to go to the flea market with a wheel that just fell off it, which happened. And the other one in the air, the passenger tire. Yeah, the front tire in the air. Yeah, so there's always something you see and people you meet there are just legendary. And so Legends overlanding was more an idea of just chasing Legends in Baja. Like, and the fact that, you know, I've got this whole, like, Hallmark cliche phrases we've been working on, made not born and all this stuff. It's just the fact that Baja makes legends and there's a lot of legends that have gone before us. just been really fun to chase their stories and learn from them and be inspired by them and the

way we travel and the way we experience Baja. Well, it was truly inspirational, honestly, sincerely, having you show me your Baja, you know, you think you know something, but guides have guides. And so it was really great to meet. And I got a bunch of guys. Yeah, really great to meet another one of your guides, Nathan and in Cattavina. And we had a terrific week. Slow Baja approved for Topo Terra if you need great. I've seen them, folks. They're stunning. It's astonishing that that's available to you. And the most beautiful brindle boxer right here, Kaya.

Topo Terra, Slow Baja approved. Legends Overlanding, Slow Baja approved. Check them out. Put it together. Get a trip and make some memories of yourself. And guys, thanks for making a little time. Real pleasure to get to talk to you today. Of course. Thanks for having us. Absolutely. It was fun bouncing. around for a week with you guys. All right, we did it. Well, I hope you like that one. First,

Slow Baja podcast with the dog hanging around. That was fun having Kaya there. Brandon and Nathan really have something special here. If you're thinking about getting into this overlanding thing, before you go out and buy a rig or build a rig or what have you, check out one of Brandon's Topotera rigs. They really are amazing. And Nathan, as a guide, truly is worth every penny. So get some buddies, get your wife, get your girlfriend, get your wife and your girlfriend, and get on out in one of these beautiful campers and have Nathan show you his slow Baja. All right. Well, if you love what I'm doing here, and if you're still listening right now, I hope you do, and you've got some tacos still jingling around in your pocket, drop a couple

in the tank. Doing this stuff on location really is a little bit more. It takes a little bit more than just calling people on the phone and phoning it in as they say. So if you, you do have some tacos in your pocket and you can afford to spare a few, I'd really appreciate it if you supported the show and drop the taco in the tank. And if you don't have any tacos, I get it. I don't have any tacos most of the time either. So do me a favor. Drop a five-star review on Apple or on Spotify. That doesn't cost anything. Say something nice about Slow Baja. Tell people while you're listening to the show. And it really does help people find this show, which hopefully will help it grow and help me keep doing what I'm doing. T-shirts are on the way. We've got a replen of black t-shirts coming in.

We've got all the new hats in all the baseball hats. We've got a couple that aren't even on the website. So check that out. Instagram. I'll be introducing the new hats. They'll be on the website soon. And if you want to jump on that last spot for the Slow Baja Vintage Expedition, as of this recording, there is one spot left. I'm not sure by the time you hear it if there's going to be one spot left. But if you've got something 1993 and older or something that looks like a 1993, hit me up. I'd love to have you come with. Okay, well, we're at that point in the show where I tell you about Mary McGee's pal, Steve McQueen, and that is now Offroad Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee.

That's right. She got inducted to the Hall of Fame. Mary McGee killed it at her induction speech. Hall of Famer, Mary McGee, her pal, Steve McQueen, he loved Baja, he loved the desert. And he said, Baja's life, anything that happens before or after is just waiting. You know, I'm a minimalist when it comes to Baja travel, but the one thing I don't leave home without is a good old paper map. My favorite is the beautiful, and I mean beautiful Baja Road and Recreation Atlas by benchmark maps. It's an oversized 72-page book.

It's jammed with details. It brings the peninsula's rugged terrain into. clear focus. Get yours at Benchmarkmaps.com. In fact, get two. One for your trip planning at home and one for your Baja rig. And while you're at Benchmarkmaps.com, you've got to check out all their other atlases. I think they're up to 17 now, including British Columbia. They've got folding maps. They've got digital maps. They've got giant wall maps. My favorite, and I've got it up on my wall right here at Slow Baja HQ, is a 30-inch by 46-inch Baja wall map. It's so great to just look at one thing, see the entire peninsula there.

love it. Benchmarkmaps.com. Slow Baja approved. Huge news out of Encinata. Huge news, folks. Serviceria Trans-Peninsula has Slow Baja on tap all summer long. That's right. I saw it for myself. Heck, I tasted it for myself. You got to get there. You got to check it out for yourself at Cervaseria Trans-Peninsula. It's right there next to the Hotel Corral and Marinas in the Plaita's neighborhood. Get yourself a frosty cold, slow Baja on tap, but don't delay. It's for limited time only this summer.