Episode 99 – Off Road Independence Podcast

Posted on April 16, 2015 by Dan Cole

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—EDIT —- The audio quality on the first part of the show is a much lower quality that you’ve come to expect due to some technical difficulties. 99 episodes down and we’re still fighting digital gremlins.

On this episode of the podcast we have an interview with Eric McGrew from the Off Road Independence Podcast. Eric is from the United States but has been living in Chile for a last few years. His experience has given him an interesting perspective of offroading and travel outside the borders.

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This episode of the podcast is sponsored by Lodge Manufacturing

 

Thanks to Fridge Freeze for supporting The 4×4 Podcast

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Episode 98 – Beau Johnston, TCT Magazine and Four Wheel Campers

Posted on April 10, 2015 by Dan Cole

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On this episode of the podcast, we have an interview with Beau Johnston from Toyota Cruisers and Trucks Magazine (TCT Magazine) and we talk about his recent experience with a Four Wheel Camper (FWC) on the Pacific Coast Highway.  Beau Johnston has been on the show many times before and we’ve been enjoying the TCT Magazine for quite some time.  Before I decided to keep my Jeep Cherokee, I was very seriously weighing the idea of buying a full-size truck and then using a slide-in FWC.  It would give all the comfort of a full-size truck as well as the camping comfort of a hard side camper that can be removed from the truck for daily driver duties.  I will say that I have fond memories of having a pickup truck and the comfort of a hard side camper is very appealing.

Would you trade your adventure rig for a full-size truck with a FWC installed?

 

Posted by Beau Johnston on Sunday, December 21, 2014

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Episode 97 – Ara Gureghian and Dual Sport motocycles

Posted on April 5, 2015 by Dan Cole

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On this episode, I have the wonderful opportunity to chat with Ara Gureghian who has spent the last few years exploring the United States on his BMW GS dual sport motorcycle with sidecar carrying his dog, Spirit.  While the podcast is named The 4×4 Podcast, we talk about all things offroading.  Ara has a very inspiring story!  After chatting with him for a bit, I wanted to run out and buy a dual sport bike for myself, dump some responsibilities and just hit the road to explore!

Photo Credit to Ara Gureghian

Photo Credit to Ara Gureghian

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Episode 96 – The Alaskan Expedition Trailer

Posted on March 29, 2015 by Dan Cole

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This episode contains audio that is a significantly different quality than you are accustomed to on the podcast.  Thats because I pulled the audio for this show from a GoPro video that was shot using an external mic.  My wife and I (and my sister-in-law) were driving back from visiting Lodge Manufacturing in South Pittsburgh, TN and had a chat about the trailer that we’re building.  If you like how this works out, then you may expect more episodes to be recorded like this so that we can create some content while on the trek across the western United States and then north through British Columbia and the Yukon Territory.

Be sure to let me know what you think about the audio quality and our plan for the build.  Drop your comments and ideas in the comments section below and we’ll get back to you or maybe incorporate your ideas!

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Alaskan Expedition Trailer – Part 4: Visualization

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Dan Cole

After sitting in the garage in my camp chair staring at a pile of camping gear set on top of my Alaskan expedition trailer frame, I decided that I needed a better visualization of the trailer.   A nice professional rendering will also be helpful in the event that some sponsors want to allow us to show off their products in the course of this epic adventure.  While I could have just opened up PowerPoint and drawn some boxes and circles but I thought that would have been lame.  So instead, I picked up my woodworking friend, SketchUp and created a 3D model.

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The Alaska Expedition Trailer – Part 3 tail lights and layout

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Dan Cole

With the trailer now sitting as a rolling frame, I needed to wire up the trail lights so that I could pick up the lumber and other materials. But the trailer light connector that came with the Harbor Freight kit includes a 4 pin connector and the Yukon has a 7 pin connector. So after ordering a bunch of stuff on Amazon, I decided to lay out some of the gear t on the frame to get an idea of how things were going to be loaded

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The Amazon-Alaskan Expedition Trailer Build: Part 2

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Dan Cole

Last weekend I spent a few hours and put the Harbor Freight trailer frame together.

 

 

 

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The trailer frame all laid out. The two boxes combined weigh in at 270 lbs.

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The Amazon-Alaskan Expedition Trailer Build: Part 1

Posted on March 8, 2015 by Dan Cole

Its time to build this expedition-style trailer.  Follow along as I build this project to support a family of 5 and a dog for an extended period of time on a reasonable budget.

 

I interviewed Scott from Compact Camping Concepts long time ago and ever since then, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about building a trailer for my adventures. The biggest thing doing me though was the logistics of moving. Let me explain a bit. I drive a 99 Jeep Cherokee. My wife drives a 2007 Yukon XL. Since I’m in the Army, I frequently move across the country. To save money and travel more comfortably as a family with the 3 kids and a dog, we like to all ride in the Yukon and tow the XJ on a car hauler trailer. My 16′ car hauler just wasn’t big enough to hold the Jeep and an expedition trailer. In June I’ll be moving for the 10th time in 10 years. But the difference is that this time we’re heading to Alaska! The more important bit here is that the Army is paying to haul one vehicle for me. That means my XJ can take a commercial transport up to Alaska and I can haul an expedition trailer across the country and I’ll the Alaskan highway!

I’m so excited that is finally my turn to start building a trailer! The first step was selling my car hauler. So I posted it up on Craigslist for the same price that I paid for it 7 years ago.

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Episode 95 – Dirt Road Trip

Posted on March 1, 2015 by Dan Cole

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On this episode of the podcast I chat with the guys from Dirt Road Trip.  I met Ben and Alex at the Vermont Overland Trophy a few years ago. Apparently that’s when they were just reconnecting and actually predated the Dirt Road Trip partnership. Since then, their website launched and they’ve attended many events. They’ve been doing a great job of highlighting some of the interesting areas to explore in the mid-atlantic region of the United States. Be sure to head over to their website at dirtroadtrip.com to see lots of product reviews trip reports and more.

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Caps and Beanies

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Dan Cole

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Back by popular demand, I’m taking orders for caps and beanies. This are high quality hats and all the proceeds go directly to supporting the podcast media hosting fees.  Since I can’t figure out the stupid e-commerce thing I’m not taking orders directly.  Please email me at the4x4podcast@yahoo.com with the color and size of hat that you’d like and I’ll invoice you for the order.

Sorry the process is kinda clunky, but thats the best you’re going to get from a non-tech savvy offroader.  Caps are $15 + $5 for shipping.  Beanies are $10 + $5 for shipping.

ORDERS WILL ONLY BE TAKEN TILL 25 Feb 2015.  

Black knit beanies $15

Black knit beanies $15

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