395: I Tried Overlanding with my Husband for 3 Days!

I have a fire pit. I've got chairs that rock. I've got an awning. Trying to make this as comfortable as possible. And I turn around. Where's Natalie? She's sitting in the passenger seat of the truck, of the cab with the door closed. Just sitting there with her jacket and, like, her arms crossed, just sitting in the cabin.

I wasn't complaining, though. I was just sitting there. I was warm.

Hi.

I want to welcome you to Midlife Conversations. I'm Natalie Jill, your host, and I help midlife women redefine and rebrand aging. On this podcast, I do what I do best, taking complex, complicated information and conversations around aging that are relevant to us now and breaking it all down simply with actionable steps that you can implement to level up your life, because your best years are yet to come. I also regularly interview some of the most inspiring people living in their best midlife years. On this show, I cover topics about our health, hormones, navigating weight, blood sugars, our mood, focus changes, even our relationships, career changes, beauty, and more.

I tried overlanding for three days, AKA glamping. I'm gonna get into what glamping is, what overlanding is, how it compares to camping, What I learned, why you should maybe consider doing this with yourself or with a friend or with your spouse. What I learned from it, I went from being completely uncomfortable and nervous and scared to actually enjoying myself. And I just want to share that your girl here is not a camper. I'm a nature lover, but I'm not someone who likes to be dirty and go without a shower and live in nature for. For more than, you know, an afternoon type of thing. So I've got my husband here, Brooks Holland, joining us today on Midlife Conversations. And before I introduce him and we fully jump into this, I want to make sure, if you are watching this on YouTube, make sure you hit the subscribe button. I do release two episodes a week, and I want to make sure you're always notified when I've got a new conversation coming out. If you're listening to this on a podcast platform, make sure you follow along there so you always can hear this. And if you're listening on a podcast and you didn't know about my YouTube channel, it's Natalie Jill Fitness, and you might want to check that out because I put all of the conversations solo and conversations with others there, and we put a lot more into those videos than just the conversation, so you can actually see what we're talking about here. And on this one, we've got a Lot of footage from the camping experience. You don't want to miss that. And you can find my YouTube channel at Natalie Jill Fitness. So I've got my husband Brooks here. And Brooks, I call him the prepared prepper because that is truly what he is. He doesn't love the term prepper, but Brooks, can you kind of explain why you don't like the word prepper and what it is that you do and why I call you that?

I think like anything these words get associated definitions through the media, like, oh, these people are crazy preppers. But I just look back from my military experience. I think there's just. I think everything in the military is based on preparation. Doesn't matter what the operation is, there's contingency plans. Like, you always have a backup. You always want to be prepared. And then somehow that just got, you know, the media twisted, distorted and changed like that. So that's just when people say prepper, I think it has a, A different connotation than what I think just being responsible and prepared.

Well, put it this way, if stuff hit the fan, my husband, I could live out of his backpack. He is that kind of person. Like, he's got everything we need to survive, literally in his backpack. And then you take that up a notch. He's always thinking through details. So when he. And I also, you know, I joke with my husband that he's like, I call him a hobbyist. Like, he takes on these hobbies and he goes at them really, really hard. He learns everything about the thing that he's interested in. And he's done this with a number of things like paragliding and that I can pickleball. Like, you've done this with lots of things, Brooks, like where you, you find the thing and you go deep. So when he got interested in overlanding, I thought this was going to be a temporary thing. And it has turned into a true way of living for him. And I want to back up and explain, you know, where that came from and what that is. So we both like the outdoors for different ways, like, different reasons. I like to go hiking. I like to be at the beach. We like the outdoors. I've never said I wanted to, like, live outdoors.

Like, I like, like the walk for 90 minutes at Torrey Pines.

Exactly.

And then.

And perfect 80 degree weather.

Yes, perfect weather. And then go eat and get our nails done. And then go take shower.

Yeah, and shower. And be clean and sleep clean at night. That's what I like. So Brooke started researching. This is back when it was gosh During COVID really. And when everything was locked down and everyone was answering and chomping at the bits to get out. And he started researching, exploring really. And it started with the idea of a sprinter van. Right, that's how you. This kind of started.

That's how it started. And then, because at the time everything was crazy, so I put in an order for a sprinter van and it was going to be a year until the van was ready.

Can you share what a sprinter van was and like what that, what you were even thinking of that for?

Well, I like the sprinter van. The big thing is because you can stand up inside of it and there's two sizes, there's 144 and 170. The 170 is, what is that, 26 inches longer than the 144. So you just basically have more space. So I had researched all the layouts, all the things in there, and, and you can do some nice things to him to make them capable off road. Because the thing is, I'm definitely not an RV park person, but he was.

Looking at the sprinter van as a way to get away, like a way like how can we get out, explore, go travel. And the idea of this van that you could basically sleep in, live in if you needed.

It was travel, it was road trip, it was mobile office, it was be able to just pull off on the side of the road, pull off at the beach and then work from a laptop because having, I mean love Porsche 911, they're amazing cars. But even if I go play golf, my golf clubs have to go in the passenger seat. I mean, you can fit a lot of day to day groceries and stuff in them. But for paragliding, wanting to get anything off of a smooth paved road, they're not the best vehicle of choice.

So he was looking at these sprinter vans. I was kind of half paying attention. Brooks watches a lot of YouTube, he watches a lot of videos. He goes deep while he's researching and next thing you know he's ordered this sprinter van that he's going to build out, remodel, create and to go explore. And that, that's kind of where that conversation stopped. And then that sort of switched over to this idea of overlanding that he started going deep down the rabbit hole on watching. Can you explain what over landing is?

Overlanding is essentially just vehicle based travel. I mean you can go over landing in your car, it doesn't take anything really fancy. But I think there's, I mean you can go anything from that. But now there's multi million dollar quote unquote overlanding expedition vehicles that are out there on the market. So there's really kind of everything in between, but it's basically vehicle based. Traveling, camping, that sort of a thing. So it's around a vehicle.

So this is where it gets a little juicy. I'm sharing it with you all because you're my people here listening. But Brooks got this idea that he wanted to build out a truck for overlanding. And I'm watching him watch all these YouTube videos. He's like up late researching and watching all people exploring Africa, exploring everywhere on these, in these trucks with build outs. And he says, I want to buy a truck. Now keep in mind, Brooks had two cars already. Two, two little sports cars. I had a 10 year old SUV that I was. With a dent in it that I was waiting to get as a. It had a dent in it. Yes, I know it was my fault, but that's not the point. Brooks, okay, he's. He's wanting everyone to know that it was my fault. There was a dent. Yes, it was my fault. There was a dent. I had a little accident. Not really an. It was an accident with a pole, but that's another story. So I had this 10 year old car. 10 year old car. And my thought process was, our thought process was my daughter was going to be turning 16. When she turns 16, I'll give her that car and I'll then get a new car. But I would every day want this. A new car. I really had my eyes on a new car. I was tired of driving around my dented 10 year car. But we were being practical. So Brooks says he wants to buy this truck. And I was a hard no. Because I said, no, you already have two cars. I'm waiting on a new car. So either I'm getting a new car first or you can sell one of yours and get a truck. And that's what I said. So one day I'm hiking down Torrey Pines, my favorite place in San Diego, and Brooks calls me and he's like, hey babe, you know that, that truck I wanted to get? I said, yeah, the one I said you can sell a car and get, but you're not getting it. He said, have you changed your mind? I said, no, I have not changed my mind. And he said, well, I'm making a decision for the family. You'll thank me one day. I ordered the truck and I'm flying out to pick it up.

Hello.

That's literally what he said. So I did what any reasonable wife would have done in that situation. I said, you know what? I'm not happy with this. I didn't even. I said a lot of kind of some f bombs too. But I instantly went out and bought my brand new car. I said, okay, fine. So I went and bought a brand new car. It's pretty much what I did. I said, I'm not waiting any longer.

Ordered your car, like, shortly thereafter.

And it came later, but I said, I'm not. This is so basically follow me for more marriage advice. That's kind of how I handled it. I said, fine, getting a car too, then. So it wasn't maybe that. That's. That's how we emotionally handled this. So Brooks gets this truck.

She emotionally handled it.

So Brooks gets this truck, and he starts going really deep on building out this truck.

Well, I think the whole process, because you actually, like you said you wanted to divorce me there for a second. Like, you were. You were furious. And I guess it's kind of hard because my wife is a super, super quick start. And like, I had researched and the thing is, is, like, I knew the people. I knew the guys that owned the Ford dealership because I'd wanted to put in an order for one. Ford shut down the order books. Remember, this was kind of back in still that Covid post Covid with supply chains. And just weird stuff was going on. And it was June, and Ford just shut down their order books. And they're like, there's nothing. And then I was like, well, I guess I'll wait for the 2023s. I didn't really like those. There was some stuff going on with them. And so I was like, hey, it gave them a basic criteria. They searched the whole country like, there's nothing available. And I was seeing. I was searching for trucks and they were. They were going for 10, 15 grand over ask and they were just all sold. And it got down. They're like, there's seven cars left in the entire country from the entire Ford network that would meet this super. I narrowed my criteria down to like three things. And it turns out somebody. Somebody had ordered this truck. And in the nine or 14 months until from when they'd ordered towards delivery, they'd already found something else. It was this little dealer in Oswego, Illinois. It was awesome. Just two cars in the showroom, two desks. I mean, the nicest people. And so. And I just. I basically bought it over the Internet, sight unseen.

And then knowing his wife was very.

Mad at him, and I knew my wife would be mad at me at that time, but also.

From the research that I'd done, I didn't. Plus, I could see there was also. We saw those in that 2022, 2023. We saw the inflation pricing ju. As inflation hit. So, like, that same truck the next year was over $10,000 more expensive just because of inflation. So I'd kind of gotten it when the person had ordered it at that pricing. So it was. It was actually a great purchase. It was just hard to communicate all my hours of research and looking at the market and all that stuff to my wife. And so I kind of just made the decision, well, she'll be mad at me.

And so here we are with two cars for him, another car for me, a new car coming for me, and a truck. We were like that. We were the meme. We were like the couple. We were two of us, and we had five cars. It was a little excessive for a while there, but he starts researching how to build out this car to go over landing, and he took him about a year to do this. So kind of, if you could share a little bit about that and like, what you knew you wanted to put.

On this car because it's one thing watching it. But then there's this. There's this thing called the Overland Expo, and there's four of them, but the main ones in Flagstaff in May, and they do, you know, they hit all kind of four areas of the country. And that's where you get to kind of see it, touch it, climb in it, be it, and you kind of get exposure to all the different things out there, whether it's, you know, $2 million Earth Roamer Expedition vehicles, to rooftop tents, to ground tents, to teardrop tail, to everything in between. And because originally I went in thinking I wanted a sliding camper where you can slide the camper in. You have a little bit more amenities, but there's pro. There's just pros and cons to everything. But after going to the Expo and getting to see it and kind of experience everything, I decided to go with what's called a topper, where it's. It is removable, but it's pretty much permanent, meaning you don't. It's. You're not something you're going to take on and off. Like, I could remove it, but it was designed to stay on the truck. So basically, it goes on the bed of the truck and it hangs over the cab and that way, and it pops up. It pops up like a. Like a wedge. So from the. You stand on the Bed of the truck. You open the back of it and it goes up where it's eight feet tall and it angles down. And then inside you've got a 48 or 50 inch wide by 80 inches long sleeping platform with a 3 inch memory foam mattress. And that's it. It's really kind of simple, but it gives you the freedom and flexibility to build out the rest of the inside. And the other benefits to the toppers, they're a lot more lightweight, they're more streamlined, whereas the sliding campers kind of stick out like there's just, there's lots of things there. But I decided to go the topper route and I'm just, I'm really, really happy that I did.

So basically what that all means is he built it in a way that you can sleep in it, you can live in it, you can do things in it. So no, I didn't kick him out and say go live in the truck, but he did start exploring and doing more and more. Like he had a couple business meetings in different areas and he'd say, you know what, I'm not, I'm just gonna sleep in the truck. I'm gonna find a place to park and sleep in the truck. So he started going out on his own on these little adventures. And then what happened was I was back.

Let me clarify a little bit. On his truck. So I also have, inside of this truck, it's not just sleeping in the bed of the truck. So I mean yes, there's the mattress, but I've got 555 watts of solar on the roof. I have 120 pound 400amp hour battery. I have a toilet, I have the electrical, I have a fridge freezer that's been running since I picked it up in October almost a year ago that's been stocked and running 24 7, 365. It's got lights in there. I have a battery powered heater as well as air conditioner. I've got fans in there. So I just want to, I just want to kind of. It's not just like I'm sleeping in the bed of a truck. I mean it's, there's, there's some amenities there. It's nice. I've got a Bluetooth speaker.

So it's a, it's like a home on wheels. It's a home on wheels.

Yeah, it's basically. And I've got an eight foot bed. So think of it, it's six feet wide by eight feet long. So I basically, I'm playing with 48 square feet of space.

So Brooke starts exploring, going on these little trips with his friends, with different people. He's meeting people, he's exploring. He's coming back a little stinky and. But he has fun. He loves. And I'm getting a little bit more and more intrigued just because I like to explore, too. I didn't. I don't love to be dirty, but I love to explore and see different places. So he, you know, visited Montana. He went to Idaho. He's gone to Utah. He did a lot of these different little trips, including some expos there. So we agreed that I was going to try a first failed camping slash glamping trip. So what happened was we. This is a couple months ago, we decided to go on a little adventure. He planned it all out. He stocked the thing. He made sure I was going to be comfortable. All the things we got out there. We had a really great day hiking and hanging out. And then what happened was it got dark, it got cold. I heard animals, and we were near nobody. And what happened?

Brooks and I turned around and again, I have blankets, I have lights, outdoor lights. I have a fire pit. I've got chairs that rock. I've got an awning. Trying to make this as comfortable as possible. And I turn around and where's Natalie? She's sitting in the passenger seat of the truck, of the cab with the door closed, Just sitting there with her jacket and, like, her arms crossed, just sitting in the cabin.

I wasn't complaining, though. I was just sitting there. I was warm.

It was like, not complaining. But it's like when your kid doesn't want to eat something and they won't talk, and they're just like. They will open their mouth when you try to put the food in. I was like, babe.

So he says to me, he says, this is our first attempt. This is not the one that we just did. So he says, here's the deal. We can set up the bed and we go to sleep here and go back in the morning, or we're like two hours from home if we want to go home. You could be in your bed and take a shower and be home asleep in the next two hours. And I said, I'll do whatever you want to do. And he said, she didn't say anything.

The look on her face said it all. When I said, we can be home in about two. We can pack up and be home in about two and a half hours and you can sleep in your bed. She just glowed. She glowed. And so I was just like, okay.

So that was attempt number one.

So number one, that was a while ago. And then I think the thing that changed is when she was house sitting in San Diego, I had something up in Montana. I took two full weeks, and it was just me and flops in the truck. And so I went from Arizona to Bryce Canyon to Park City, up to Montana, and then I went to the. Almost the very top of Idaho, up by the Sandpoint area. And then I came back through Montana, Wyoming, East Yellowstone, went through the Yellowstone National Park, Jackson Hole, back through Park City.

Horseshoe Bend, hit more stuff in Utah, and then back to Arizona. And in those entire two weeks, I only slept indoors two nights.

So it looked incredible. I was obviously talking to him as much as possible and then seeing all the pictures and the footage, and I thought, okay, this is cool. I want to attempt this. So we strategically planned out. We blocked out a week. We did block out a week on the calendar week.

I strategically planned.

We blocked out a week. Well, I strategically planned my schedule. I meant I didn't plan the trip. And we said we were going to go somewhere and we were going to attempt to do a few nights. And Brooks was concerned that I would maybe do one night. And I was like, no, no, I think I could do a few nights. I think I.

This.

So we. And I did. So we packed. And so I. I asked him, and this is. This. This brings me to the next kind of funny part. So I asked him, what should I pack? I said, I'm just. I'm just packing literally, like camp clothes. Like, I'm bringing tank tops, a jacket, leggings, flip flops, hiking shoes, and, you know, my supplements and skincare. Of course, that's just, that's how I roll. So I did not bring anything nice. And so we're. We're driving and we get a little bit of a late start because we had to get this water contraption put onto the. The truck, which was a great call. It was a great call that you did this. It was like an outdoor little shower thing. Was that what that was?

Yeah, it's a. It's a. It's basically, it can be used for an outdoor shower, but you can wash your hands, you can wash dishes. So it's a four.

It was a great. It was a great ad, but it took a lot longer than we thought it was going to take, which set us back a little bit on our journey, which meant some of the gates close where you want to get in, and you don't want to be finding your camping spot. In the dark. Like when you don't know the area you want to go when it's light, set up, find a good spot with a view, level out your truck, everything else. So we're driving. He's like, well, I've got a plan B. I made a reservation at a really nice restaurant, but they have a dress code. And I said, well, I didn't bring anything. All I have is my, my hiking clothes. Like you didn't bring even a plain shirt? I said, nope. I said, I brought tank tops, ripped T shirts, leggings, hiking boots and flip flops. Because that's what I was told, right?

And I guess. And yes, she. We didn't need anything nice. This wasn't like super like their dress code was basically like no flip flops, no ball caps.

Which everything I brought basically was on the no dress clothes list. No tank tops. That's all I had.

Yeah, the tank tops. But then it was like every single shirt you had was ripped. Like you didn't.

Well, yeah, I thought, I'm going to be outside, I bring my hiking clothes. So then. So I said, okay, well, let's just find a Target or something. Well, there was no Target. So we found. I looked, we looked on Perplexity and found a one clothing store. And so we go to the clothing store, the middle of nowhere. And it's a plus size store now.

But we didn't know that until went.

Inside, which is lovely. But I'm. I'm not really a plus size. So I looked through the. And they're in there like, are you looking for yourself? Are you looking for somebody else?

Like Woody?

I'm like, no, I'm looking for myself. So I found, I did find a 13 large, very large long sleeve T shirt that I just bought and tied this purple. I tied it and that worked with my leggings and my sneakers. And we went to our. So we went to a lovely dinner in Sedona. What was the name of that restaurant? Do you know? It was so good. It was beautiful. If you're in Sedona, you have to check it out. It had a beautiful view and the food was yummy. So that was night one, before we even got settled. And then we ventured out. He's looking up the name. What was the name of it? Do we know? It's okay if we don't. We can add it to the show notes.

It was the Mariposa Latin inspired grill.

There you go. It was really good. Worth it. If you're in Sedona, it has amazing.

Views like, the main dining room, it's got really high ceilings and it's just walls of glass. And we were there for sunset, so.

So we had a lovely dinner, and then we washed our hands because we weren't gonna have soap and water for a little while, so. And then we went to our camp spot. So the first spot we went to was not the scenic spot, but it was beautiful. It was literally in the middle of the woods. What was. Do you know the name of the first spot we went to? Brooks? The area?

No, it's just dispersed camping.

Okay. But it was outside of Sedona.

Yeah, it was outside of Sedona because there's no dispersed camping in Sedona.

So we found this spot. Dispersed camping outside of Sedona. Beautiful. Like in the forest. And I, surprisingly, was not scared yet. I was good. So we. Brooke set up the truck, and I slept night number one in the truck. I was pretty darn proud of myself.

Yeah, you did great. And it wasn't.

Nope. So we got up in the morning, had a little protein shake, packed up the car, and then we ventured to the next area. Do you know the name of that one?

Brooks? That's called the Edge of the World.

Edge of the World. And that was, like, kind of near Flagstaff, right?

No, it's. It's. Nor. It's. It's south of Flagstaff, but it's north of Sedona.

Okay. You could see Sedona from it.

Yeah, you're. You're kind of overlooking Sedona. And basically, to get there, you're depending on the exact trail you take. You're going to be about 22 to 25 miles from the nearest paved road to get there.

So we go there. The spot is gorgeous. I mean, y', all, if you've never been camping or off roading, think of, like you're gonna go. I mean, you're gonna. You wanna build this house and you're looking for an amazing lot, but you're like, oh, I don't know that I could ever build a house. Like, all these lots like that that you can just set up and camp now, they usually have a limit on the amount of days or the time you could spend, but just these beautiful private lots like that you can find you off. You're off roading to that. So it's pretty spectacular. Like, we set up camp. I don't think we saw another human really that day. Like, maybe we saw, like, a couple people when we tried to walk, but.

A few people on, like, side by sides or the Razors that are just out there romping around in the trails.

But really no, but we could see Sedona from there. It was gorgeous. So we, we hung out there. We went and explored a little bit. I was coming off a sinus infection, so we attempted like a little mini walk hike. I was, we didn't get very far, but we did that to explore a little bit. And then we set up, we made dinner. Brooks found these incredible. You get them at camping stores, I.

Guess like they didn't get an rei. I mean they're, they're for hikers. You can use them for, you know, it's a, I don't want to say prepping, but preparing because they have a solid expiration date on. The thing is they actually taste, I think they taste really good. Then again.

So they're basically freeze dried meals. So like you can get pad Thai or fried rice and it's. You just add hot water and you had. What was the thing called that you used to boil water?

I, I was using my jet boil that I would use when I would go hiking, when I would do, when I would do overnight hikes. When you're carrying everything on your back. That's why I would.

Terry.

I would take a jet boil because everything fits in. It's probably about as big around as a 2 liter bottle, but it's probably only about a third as high. And that's got everything you need because with that you could basically make 24 meals. You have enough fuel in the canister to boil water 24 times. So whether you're making coffee or tea or boiling the water to, to make a meal, it's.

That's really pretty good. I mean I thought, I thought was like a pretty easy meal idea. And they're actually not bad. Like you look in the ingredients, them, it's pretty, just natural. It was like peas, carrots, chicken. It was like, it was just normal.

They're really, they're built for endurance athletes. They're built for people that are climbing Everest. They're built for hikers, they're built for people that are exerting all day. And then it's like you need quality nutrition. So.

Yeah, so. And they were so pretty good. So that was night. That night two, we woke up in the morning. Brook set up like I was actually super impressed with how much he had researched. I kept noticing like, gosh, my husband put so much thought and detail into this build out. Like he thought of everything. So like he even had a way to scramble us eggs. Like he set up A whole breakfast. He made us hash browns that came out like mashed potatoes, but they were very good. He made us scrambled eggs. He had, he cooked it all like set up a really nice area underneath his awning out there. And we had breakfast out there.

Yeah, it was cool. And that was, that was actually the first time because that's been my limiter. When I did that two week trip to basically Montana, north Idaho and back, that's when I really realized I needed to find a good water solution. And so that's why when I got back from that trip, I ordered that four gallon water tank. And so because that was the problem, a lot of times I would default to the Jetboil meals or my favorite peanut butter and jelly.

Because they couldn't. Yeah, so I would make my own sourdough and I would bring a natural peanut butter and then I would bring like a natural just jam, you know, blueberries, blackberries, something like that. So I mean it's still peanut butter jelly, but it's healthy. It's not 20 ingredient chemical bread or anything like that. But it's because I didn't have water. I mean I had little bottles of water, stuff like that, but I didn't have a good way. And so the water was a game changer because when you're actually going to cook a meal, you need to be able to rinse the stuff off. And so having the water was. And that was. And this was the first time that I've had the water. So it's really going to change my food prep when I go out the next time because I will, I'll be able to bring sausages and chicken and food and I'll be able to just mix. I'll be able to cook whatever I want.

So there we were like two days, two nights already under our belt. And Brooks was like, we're gonna go to another spot. And this was our best spot. Yeah, we drove up more towards Flagstaff. And outside of Flagstaff there was another area. Do you know what that area was called? Because people might ask Brooks that we want.

Oh, we had to go up to Flagstaff, but then we came south and then to the east. And so it looks like I'll. It's called the Mogollon Rim, but it looks like the Magalin Rim, but it's Mogollon and it's actually, it's a 200 mile long rim or ridge that cuts through Arizona. And I think it goes. I'm not sure if it goes all the way to Colorado or not.

And all these spots you were finding, what was the name of that app that you were using?

I was using an app called Ioverlander.

So it was cool because people would drop pins and write reviews on like the little spots they found. So we, we would find those spots. Now, the ones for that final destination, those spots were already taken. So Brooks kept driving and he found ones that weren't even on the pin.

And not everything's going to be pinned, but it's just like you get an idea when you're on these apps and you can see and you can search for WI fi, you can search for dispersed camping, paid camping. I mean, there's a list of about 20 different. You can search for laundromats, things like that. But it just helps because if I see a couple pins in an area, okay, I'll be able to find something there. And that's the thing. When you understand the way that this rim is, even if it's not, oh, that spot. I mean, we passed a couple times, like, oh, there were several spots that were taken. I didn't worry because there's still more, more spots because this thing is, you know, miles and miles and miles long.

So by day three or night three, I'm getting used to this and I'm enjoying it now. There's definitely some things that were uncomfortable with me. I'm going to share what those are in just a few minutes here that I had to really break through. But the scariest part for me was I get in my head about random, weird, irrational fears. Like, I asked Brooks if there's bears out there. I'm like, are there bears? And what happens if a bear attacks us? He doesn't, his head doesn't think like that. I said, what? And I would think things like that. But for this particular night at where we were staying, we were way high up on this cliff. And we were not like right on the edge of the cliff or anything, but we were way high up on this cliff. It was beautiful, but we were very high up.

It jutted out. So we were kind of, we were kind of out on a little point. I mean, we had probably, I don't know, 230 degree views. I mean, it was incredible.

So we go to, we go to sleep. I go to sleep quite early. Like as soon as the sun sets, I am out. I go to sleep. And it's around 2 in the morning, it starts pouring rain. Like, pouring rain.

It's really windy because we watched the beautiful sunset.

We did. We stargazed.

The moon was out and Then I was like, oh, it was gonna be one of those, I call it like the Star wars nights when it's so clear once the sun sets where you can just see all of the stars.

Yeah.

And I'm trying to, I'm trying to enroll Natalie in keeping her eyes open past 7:45, 8 o'. Clock.

I stayed up till 10. 9. 9 ish. 9 or 10 ish. So I go. We go to sleep around 2 o'.

Clock. It's 8:05. Natalie calls that 9 ish. So let's just be real.

No, it was definitely more.

I was like, man, just, just go to bed.

It was more like 9ish though.

I was just sitting out there and it was getting dark and I was just looking and then all of a sudden behind me I could see like a flash. I know if like some campers or something. I was like, no, wait a second, that's a storm. So I was trying to get video of it and I was like, man, there's some serious lightning storm. And I did have reception. So I searched for the weather radar. And then the way the wind was blowing is like it's. And I was watching the three hour time lapse and it was going away from where we were. So I was like, okay. And I could just. And I watched that go away. So I went to bed. I don't know. I went in the truck probably 10:30, 11 and was reading and probably went to bed about midnight, around 2 in.

The morning, it's pouring rain and like the whole truck is shaking. And I. And we have windows open. So I wake up Brooks, I'm like, it's pouring rain. So he puts the little, the window stuff down and I can't go back to sleep because it's like the whole truck is like shaking like crazy. So Brooke says to me, are you okay, babe? And I said, no, I'm not okay. He said, what's wrong? And I said, I. I'm scared. He said, what are you scared of? I said, I'm scared that the truck is going to roll off the cliff. That's what I'm scared of.

Yes. And so it's like, okay, I'm glad that that's what you're scared of because you have nothing to worry about. Because the truck weighs.

I haven't gotten it weighed, but with everything I've got on it now send it. It's going to be over £7,000. I mean it's.

That was just one of my rational fears. That was one of my rational fears that we were going to. So I had a really hard time falling back asleep because I had this fear that we were going to roll off the cliff and that no one would know where we are and I would be disappearing into the earth forever. That's what I thought. And then they had another irrational fear that Brooks would fall off the cliff. Like, and then I would be by myself trying to figure this out.

That was earlier when we just got there. If you're standing back like, there's a rock. And she just in her mind thought that on the other side of that rock was a 2,000 foot drop off, which there kind of was. We had to keep going for that. And I love that stuff. So I was hopping around. I was going to go try to climb this rock. So she's like, my palms are sweaty.

You all. You don't understand. If something were to happen to Brooke trucks on that, I wouldn't even known how to start that truck. Like, literally, I wouldn't have known how to drive that truck. He's got so many things going on in there that would have not been good.

So.

So that was. So I had a lot of rational. So here's some of the. So here's what I want you all to know. Okay. Number one, and I did love this trip. It was really nice. But here's some of the lessons. Let's get into some of those. Number one, I 1 million percent do not do well with stillness and nothingness. I get to work on that because I'm super ADHD and I like to be busy. I like to do things. So just sitting there and just doing nothing, being present, I can do it for an hour. But for three days, that was really challenging for me.

And I did choose spots that I felt, well, not that I felt that I had a pretty good idea, would have at least some cell phone reception because it was one. It was one thing to get Natalie to go basically camping for three days. It would be another to go camping for three days and take away Internet access for. At the same time. That would be. That would be. That would be a lot.

But I didn't. I wasn't like. So yes, I did. I did use my phone. I did. I did film clips around the journey. I did a lot of that. But I wasn't. I didn't like bring a laptop and start working. I wasn't doing any of that.

But still. But it's like we all know we're all guilty of it. We all default phones. Like when we're sitting there, we pick it up and we.

I read a book. I did. I read it. I read an actual book. Right? Yeah. So. So that was one lesson that I get to work on. And I was like, I just noticed it a lot. But you don't notice it at home. You don't notice it in your regular life. But when you do notice it, when you're sitting outside for three days and there's nothing but you, your husband, and the mountains, you don't. You notice it. You do.

So that's.

Like, the world wants us to be distracted and busy and just doing, doing, doing, doing, doing, doing.

So I definitely noticed that. I also noticed first, like, this. But I'm gonna stare anyway. I noticed that when you smell bad, you don't smell other people smelling bad. Because I didn't shower for three days. We use, like, wipes and stuff.

No, I was like, shower wipes.

Well, we did use showers, but I didn't notice any. I'm very sensitive to smells. Like, I. Brooks will come back from camping. I'm like, get in the shower. I didn't smell anything. I thought my. Either. Maybe it was my cold. Maybe because I had a cold, I didn't smell anything.

Part of becoming your cold. But it's. I mean, we weren't. It's not like we weren't showering. We weren't running a marathon and then not showering. No.

But still, three days a lot.

It's three days. But again, like, I was using. I use these shower wipes. I mean, so they're. They're bigger and they've got some texture on them. So I use two of them. So I do one. It's like the first go around. Then I use the second one. That. And again, is it as perfect as a shower? No. But with the aloe and the stuff on there, you definitely. You definitely feel good cleaner. Yeah, you feel cleaner. And then the other thing I would do is I would wash my hands and feet before I go to bed. Yeah, we did that with the actual hose. So I would use my dawn dish soap.

Because we forgot shower, so.

Well, I. Because I didn't. I've always had the dawn dish soap. I bought a little thing of it one of the times. And it's. Sometime I would have water, but so I actually got to use it. Yeah, just soap is soap.

The other thing I really noticed, I definitely love nature. Like, I love hiking and being outside and all of that. And I. You know, when we left on Wednesday, I had a really bad sinus infection. I had a fever the night before. And I was just sitting on the couch. You know, when you. When you're sick, you just. You're in your head about how you feel sick. So Brooks was like, even like, we can cancel, we can postpone. I didn't want to because I knew that was the only time I had really blocked out for this. And honestly, like, being outside, definitely you feel way better. Like, I didn't notice that I had this cold as much being outside. I felt the altitude change for my sinuses. I definitely felt that. And you all can hear me as I'm recording this. I'm still a little bit nasally from that. I was a little swollen from it too. But being outside, it's amazing what nature does to make us feel better.

That was a big thing. Another thing I, I definitely learned about this is I was super in my head about being uncomfortable. I had all these stories I made up about not wanting to camp, not being a camper, not wanting to be dirty, not wanna be alone. And I actually really enjoyed it. So when I could get past those stories I had made up and actually just experienced it, I really liked it. I really enjoyed it. And it's funny because I was sharing on stories along the way. I would share each day a little update. And a lot of people messaged me like, oh, you're so brave. I could never do that. And maybe you're even listening to this going, I. I couldn't do that. I would have never in a million years pegged myself as somebody that can go sleep outside like that and do this. And I really, actually enjoyed it.

And I think that's a really big thing there. So many times we limit ourselves with those stories. And I think, you know, looking back to the military, that's why they do a lot of things. It's just so that, you know that you can do it now.

Yeah, I can see that.

And it's just one of the. As you know, I'm also a certified firearms instructor. And so a lot of times with working with people, like, they've created so many stories about what a gun owner or what a gun person or what it is like to shoot a gun. And I always love it when you get to just give them a real experience. And it does just like it was for you, Kami. It just completely changes because. And this is just so prevalent in today's society because we see a meme or we're told to think a certain way about something, or I could never do that. It really. It really doesn't serve us. So just that going in with an open mind. I mean, I thought you did great. I was. I mean, I was definitely stressing it. And after the last one, I was like, I thought I did a pretty good job last time. Like, again, all these places are safe. You know, I've got on board, I've got recovery gear, I've got medical gear, I've got radio, I've got comms, I've got cell boosters.

I've got a lot of stuff. I'm. I like to think that I'm pretty prepared for most things that would come up well.

And I want to say the other reason I. I said yes to this was not just because my husband's into it and I should do it with him, but I really do. You know, I'm almost 53 years old. In fact, when this airs, I will probably have turned 53. And one of the things that's like, really, really come up for me in midlife, especially after 50, was how fast life goes. And so I crave. I personally crave more experiences now because it's like, I've always been an explorer. I've always wanted to see things, but I'm like, I want more experiences because if not now, then when? And I just watched, like, way too many people not get to live long lives or, you know, not have those opportunities. So to me, the growth, the fun, the enjoyment, the thriving in midlife truly comes from doing these new experiences. And that is a big reason I was a yes.

Yeah.

Another thing I really got out of this was I have another story how much I didn't like Arizona, because here we're living in outside of Scottsdale, and I'm so used to San Diego for the last 20 years, and I, you know, the heat, the desert, the brown. But Northern Arizona was absolutely spectacular. It was beautiful. I absolutely loved Flagstaff. I love Sedona. I loved all those areas in between. It was gorgeous there.

Truly spectacular. The other thing I really picked up was that overlanding is, like a whole nother level than just tenting. Like, just if you're. When you think of camping and you think of, like, going in a tent and sleeping the ground on a tent, overlanding was a whole different experience. Like you. We could live in this truck. You get in there, there's a mattress, there's a bathroom, there's water. We can cook. It's when you're outside during the day, there's a big awning to open and be able to sit under it. So this was a whole different experience. And you do feel safe Being in the truck, locking it up at night, being in there.

And Brooks, you've done both. You've tented and done that?

Oh, yeah, I've.

I've gone hiking where I, you know, basically pitch a ground tent. And then you wake up in the morning and you see huge paw prints on the ground 50 yards away that would not. You know.

I also really enjoyed watching my husband in his action because this is, you know, I've told him this is like, this is all the compilation of Brooks over the years comes together. He was, he went through military. He was in the military. He went through SEAL training, he went through. He's been through all the stuff. He has been trained to be. He's a amazing firearm instructor. So just watching all the things that he's learned, research, put together over the years come together, like, it's so fun to watch him in that world. And it does scare me, looking at the world today and the way things are, that, that we are of one urgent emergency away from disaster. Like, we really are. If communication were to go down, if the Internet were to go down, if electric were to go down, like, what would we all do? And knowing that we can be prepared to go off grid, go live off site if, if hopefully that's never needed, but if that were to happen is very empowering feeling.

Yeah. I think that that resilience piece is key. I mean, knowing that if something happens, and I've been saying this for, for decades, that we are 72 hours from chaos.

Yeah. And I'm hoping that never happens.

But again, like, I hope it never happens, too, but I, I grew up in Florida, and so there's always hurricanes.

So you can sit there if you, you know, you can go outside and go, oh, it's sunny out. I'm just going to be positive. But it's like, no, no, the radar, it's not here yet, but there's a hurricane out there and it's coming here. And so you can be positive and manifest and like, oh, the sun. But there's still a hurricane. It's still coming, and that's not going to change anything. And so it's just the thing. It's like, okay, we've all seen what's going on in the world. There's things that don't make sense. So, like, it really does. It's a huge sense of confidence, I think, so some of these skills where you can be resilient.

Yeah. And so I, that was a big lesson for me, too, because I want to imagine that everything's okay. And I definitely live in rose colored glasses. I mean, that's definitely how I operate. But knowing like, okay, we were okay out by ourselves, self contained is very empowering feeling. So I, I enjoyed it for that reason too. And then like, hello, the fact that I can go without a shower for three days and eat out of a bag and survive was pretty, pretty spectacular to me because that is, I am a comfort queen. Brooks makes fun of me that I need comfort. Comfort's my big thing. And I was fine. So I liked experiencing that too because I think we do get very set in our ways with being comfortable. And it was a good experience for me to be uncomfortable and go, that wasn't so bad.

And I think because a lot of my life has revolved around getting comfortable at being uncomfortable. And that's, I mean, that's athletics. I started swimming competitively when I was six and I was doing two a days before I was seven. The only way you get better in a sport is by pushing that comfort zone every workout. Because if you're just, if you go to swim and you're just comfortable every workout, you're not going to get any better.

Yeah.

And so you're being pressured. I mean, the military. I knew when to click yes, I did go through SEAL training. It's a story for another podcast, but I got admin dropped 13 days to graduation. So I am not a Navy Seal. I just want to be super clear about that because people hear SEAL training.

And you know, but you did go through SEAL training. You did go.

I did go through. I got dropped 13 days till graduation, but I still got the benefit of all the training. Still made it through hell Week, still.

Got to drop for a skydiving incident. Not related to not being skilled.

It's a longer story, but yeah, so that's roundabout.

But everything in the military, it's about building that resilience they can. Hell Week isn't comfortable, but that's the entire purpose of it. So now you have a level of resilience to know. So basically I've gone a week without sleep. Basically, Hell week. We had an hour and 15 minutes during the entire week. We got 45 minutes on Wednesday and then 30 minutes later on Thursday. And I've gone a week without food.

So those two things alone, it's just huge, you know? You know, it's been a few hours, like, oh, I'm starving. Like, you're not starving.

But if you haven't done that. But that's why your special forces have been through that, because there's a standard. I know I can go a week without sleep and I can go a week without food.

Yeah.

At that point, you could probably even go longer. But the whole point is there's a sense of resilience. There's. So all these little things don't bother you.

Yeah. So all in all, I, I give it a. I give it an A plus in experience. I will be doing it again. I don't know that I'll be doing it like every week again, but I will definitely be doing it again. I already told Brooks, let's, let's like get it on the calendar to do it, go explore more. So I'm definitely open. I even got excited about like new things we can add to the truck. So I was definitely getting more into it. So I think it's, it's a fun thing. I plan on enrolling some friends to come with us. I think it would be fun to do with some other couples to even we. I had all kinds of ideas around it, but I definitely want to experience more of that. I definitely enjoyed it. I'll mix it up a little with my, you know, five star trips too.

It's definitely great when you have other people, you know, like, you know, for two years I linked up with Nick and Derek and we've had a great time and that I met up with Derek outside of Park City. We went all the way to Montana, you know, so it's just. You can go with friends. I've met some great people and yeah, it's just. Yeah, we have such, you know, with everything going on, there's still so many amazing things inside of our own country and just need to go, just go explore it.

So there you have it. Now if you want to have, if you have questions for Brooks, by the way, he's very responsive on his Instagram. What's your Instagram handle, by the way, Brooks? I don't even. It's Life of Brooksie.

Life of Brooksie with underscores between the words life score of. If you just search my name, Brooks Holland, it'll pop up.

So feel free to message him. He also. What his business is, by the way, is he helps people with prep information. So not just build outs of their own trucks, their own overlands, but even with prepping your house, prepping your life for safety and even firearm training. So he does all of that. And if you go to prepwithbrooks.com, you can see more about that. But also feel free to message him on Instagram and if you like this if this was helpful, please let us know. I love having my husband on the show. We've done a few. We did our if you haven't heard it yet, we did our whole recap of when we were in Portugal and Spain. We're getting ready to go to Italy soon, so I'm sure there'll be a recap coming of that too. I can't wait for those adventures, but thanks for tuning in and we will see you next time. Thanks for joining in on Midlife Conversations today.

I hope you enjoyed the episode. Thanks for taking time out of your day to listen in as my guest. If you found this episode valuable, please share it with friends and on social media. Be sure to tag me and our guests so that we can find you and share the love. I'm Natalie Jill fit on all social media platforms and the biggest thank you that you can give me is leaving a review and hopefully a nice one at that. This will help others find these episodes so we can help and reach more people. If you do leave me a review, please message us@supportnataliejill fitness.com with a screenshot of your review and we would love to send you a free digital download of my DSR Journal as a thank you.