Sports photographer, off-road enthusiast, marketing genius – Steven Bisig wears a ton of different hats. Listen in to two old friends talk about all the things they love in off-road. It’s a fun listen. Be sure to tune in on your favorite podcast app.
6:41 – I was home by myself and I had a BB gun
12:04– it took you this long to get a ticket??
19:18 – that’s where I met a lot of the industry people I still consider friends.
25:41 – my main role was anything photography related
28:01 – a pretty crazy event we went down for Supercrawl one year in Vegas…
39:17 – It’s an enthusiast-run company where everybody in the company are car people
44:18 – I special ordered one with a diesel, firecracker red and very minimal options
54:09 – my break into sports photography was through a contact I met at ARB
We want to thank our sponsors Maxxis Tires and 4Low Magazine.
Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.
Sports photographer, off-road enthusiast, marketing genius – Steven Bisig wears a ton of different hats. Listen in to two old friends talk about all the things they love in off-road. It’s a fun listen. Be sure to tune in on your favorite podcast app.
6:41 – I was home by myself and I had a BB gun
12:04– it took you this long to get a ticket??
19:18 – that’s where I met a lot of the industry people I still consider friends.
25:41 – my main role was anything photography related
28:01 – a pretty crazy event we went down for Supercrawl one year in Vegas…
39:17 – It’s an enthusiast-run company where everybody in the company are car people
44:18 – I special ordered one with a diesel, firecracker red and very minimal options
54:09 – my break into sports photography was through a contact I met at ARB
We want to thank our sponsors Maxxis Tires and 4Low Magazine.
Be sure to listen on your favorite podcast app.
[00:00:06.370] - Big Rich Klein
Welcome to conversations with Big Rich. This is an interview style podcast. Those interviews are all involved in the offroad industry. Being involved, like all of my guests are, is a lifestyle, not just a job. I talk to competitive teams, racers, rock crawlers, business owners, employees, media and private park owners, men and women who have found their way into this exciting and addictive lifestyle. We discuss their personal history, struggles, successes, and reboots. We dive into what drives them to stay active and offroad. We all hope to shed some light on how to find a path into this world we live and love and call offroad.
[00:00:53.790] -
Whether you're crawling the red rocks of Moab or hauling your toys to the trail, Maxxis has the tires you can trust for performance and durability. Four wheels or two? Maxxis tires are the choice of champions because they know that whether for work or play, for fun or competition, Maxxis tires deliver. Choose Maxxis, Tread victoriously.
[00:01:20.290] - Big Rich Klein
Have you seen 4low magazine yet? 4low Magazine is a high quality, well written, four wheel drive focused magazine for the enthusiast market. If you still love the idea of a printed magazine, something to save and read at any time, 4Low is the magazine for you. 4Low cannot be found in stores, but you can have it delivered to your home or place of business. Visit 4lowmagazine.com to order your subscription today.
[00:01:47.050] - Big Rich Klein
On today's episode of Conversations with Big Rich, we have Steven Bisig. Well, I know Steven from back in the early ARB days. Not sure exactly when he started. I knew a couple of guys, I think, prior to him. But Steven has always been a great guy. He's jumped around with a couple of companies, but it looks like he's solid now. We're happy to hear that, steven, thank you for coming on board and sharing your life. And it's good to talk to you.
[00:02:21.110] - Steven Bisig
Yeah, thanks for having me on the podcast. We've been trying to set this up for a while. Yeah, we finally worked out.
[00:02:28.360] - Big Rich Klein
It's good. I'm glad we were able to do this. So let's jump right in and find out where you were born and raised.
[00:02:36.730] - Steven Bisig
Yeah. So I'm one of the few people in Western Washington that actually was born here in the Seattle/Tacoma area. I was born and raised in Calif, Washington, and the furthest I moved was North Seattle for about nine years. And now I'm back down closer to where I was born, I think seven or 8 miles from the actual hospital. I'm actually currently living in Federal Way.
[00:03:03.560] - Big Rich Klein
Okay. And what was the area like back then? My dad was raised in Seattle. Wasn't born there, was he? Yes, I think he was born and raised in Seattle as well, up on Lake Washington. I don't want to screw up what area it was at, but they moved to California when he was a kid. But how rural was it back then?
[00:03:33.010] - Steven Bisig
So where I actually grew up was Puyullup, was kind of known as a hop community, hop farms. And basically when the wagon trains came out west, a lot of them either went down towards Oregon or they went over our mountain passes here and kind of settled in the Puyullup valley or the Puget sound area. So technically, I didn't grow up in the Seattle area. I can tell you where your dad was born, though, that you probably won't want to look up the property value if you lived up there. Everything just like California, everything is just skyrocketed.
[00:04:14.670] - Big Rich Klein
Their house there that they lived in had a view of Lake Washington there up on some hill. I want to say it was like the university district or something like that, I don't know. But it was we've driven by it a number of times, and I don't think they owned it, though. They were renting back then.
[00:04:33.660] - Steven Bisig
Got you. So I grew up in kind of a chalky. My dad, my grandfather, my mom all went to the same high school in Puyullup high school, but my dad and then I ended up growing up there as well. It's actually a small town right next to Puyullup, which is called edgewood, and it actually didn't even become a true town in their city. Gosh, it was right around the wow.
[00:05:01.050] - Big Rich Klein
So it's unincorporated.
[00:05:02.710] - Steven Bisig
Yeah, it was unincorporated. Sorry for my voice here. Mountains this weekend, and all the fire unfortunately, all the fire smoke is starting to get to me.
[00:05:10.630] - Big Rich Klein
That's all right.
[00:05:11.740] - Steven Bisig
So anyway, my little town there, edgewood, which is funny because same junior high, same thing, my grandfather, myself, and my dad all went to the same junior high. My dad and I actually shared a couple of teachers.
[00:05:26.870] - Big Rich Klein
Wow.
[00:05:27.900] - Steven Bisig
But yeah, that's a whole other story. But that town, Edgewood at that time was I mean, we didn't have a large piece of property, but across the street was all farmland. It was all like a horse pasture or cow pasture. So mostly Edgewood was still kind of that old school little farming community up on the hillside. So essentially, like, outskirts of the larger Tacoma and so on. Currently, now it's just like many places. A lot of that land is being developed and apartment buildings are going up. My father has been a full time firefighter in that town his entire career, so he's on his second fire department remodel.
[00:06:14.770] - Big Rich Klein
Wow.
[00:06:15.190] - Steven Bisig
So it just kind of shows you and that's just they need the support for all the apartments and retirement homes and all that are going up. So it's changed big time. Every time I drive through that town, it's like, holy smoke, there's more.
[00:06:32.390] - Big Rich Klein
So when you were growing up, what was your entertainment that young age?
[00:06:41.270] - Steven Bisig
Well, my dad was a full time firefighter at that time. He was working for ten, so I was home by myself during the summertime, and I had a BB gun. I shot cans in the backyard. I had my BMX bike that rode all around town with friends, and that was bad. That was my entertainment. I was always outside playing.
[00:07:03.130] - Big Rich Klein
Excellent. So what was your current view like?
[00:07:10.170] - Steven Bisig
I really, honestly never did have one. I would always come home when I was supposed to. Nothing super late unless it's snowed, and it was snowed. I wouldn't come home until after midnight. But now my friends and I were into BMX bikes. We just rode around town, had jumps here and there. And that was my childhood. Well, my early childhood at least. Yeah.
[00:07:38.210] - Big Rich Klein
Okay. And how was school for you in those early years?
[00:07:43.770] - Steven Bisig
I've never actually been the greatest students unless it was something I was really interested in. And even then, I had some issues just if I didn't get along with teachers and such. For example, washington State history. I love Washington State history, but I did not get along with my teacher, and I reflected on my grades. But then high school, I mean, I had awesome. Again, it comes back to something I was interested in. I had amazing all the most teacher, awesome. Metal shop teacher, which was also my dad's. Metal shop teacher, high school, and electronics teacher. So, of course, the stuff that I was interested in, the hands on, the technical stuff, I got as, your English classes, your math classes, all that stuff wasn't good at all.
[00:08:34.150] - Big Rich Klein
Did your wife grew up in that area as well?
[00:08:37.350] - Steven Bisig
Yes, she did. So my wife Amelia actually grew up in Seattle, north of downtown Seattle. Okay, so this is the further she's moved south, which is about 30 miles from her, where she was born. Okay, we're oddity here.
[00:08:53.530] - Big Rich Klein
Cool. So high school, a lot of shop courses. Is that where you plan to go to after graduation, or did you have other plans?
[00:09:08.240] - Steven Bisig
So, entering high school, I had no idea really what I want to do. I kind of like the thought of architecture, because architect. Although the math problems there, that didn't help that out. Right. So basically I entered high school not really knowing what I want to do. I signed up for a basic automotive program, and that's kind of where it took off. Kind of just fell in love with working on vehicles and had an awesome teacher. Our automotive class at Jelap High School was actually an ASE certified class. So once you got into the advanced stuff, you actually could earn college credits. I can't remember how exactly to work, but they're ASE credits.
[00:09:54.250] - Big Rich Klein
Right.
[00:09:55.910] - Steven Bisig
So, yeah, that's kind of where it all took off. And then, of course, he would bring in schools. He would bring in our local community colleges who taught automotive programs. He would bring in UTI universal Technical Institute WildTech. They all came in the presentations with us. So, yeah, that's kind of where we're all took off.
[00:10:17.330] - Big Rich Klein
And what was the first motorized vehicle that you got to drive? Whether it be motorcycle, ATV, car, truck, whatever.
[00:10:27.170] - Steven Bisig
So my early years before high school was all actually my dad and I raced downhill mountain bikes. So I never really never had dirt bikes. I always wanted one. I always went to the Super Crosses here in town, everything like that. But my sport was the downhill mountain bike racing. That was it. So we traveled around the Northwest, california, Utah, or Nationals and such. So my first vehicle was until I actually got a job when I was late 16s. It was my dad's bought new 1987 Cherokee with a manual. So that was my first vehicle. I bought it off him, and that was my commuter for first couple of years or so. And then I started getting into when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, where I want to work for as a technician at the time, I was big in the form of the one racing, which I still am. I love Formula One, so I was kind of a Mercedes fan at that time. And that's kind of my set goal was to work for Mercedes as a technician. My parents had a little 190 E Mercedes, I think it was a 91.
[00:11:43.140] - Steven Bisig
So I ended up getting that from them as well, or buying that from them as well. And then yeah, that was just too fast.
[00:11:53.310] - Big Rich Klein
That sounds like you may have gotten a few tickets in it.
[00:11:56.100] - Steven Bisig
Actually, believe it or not, the only funny story, I've only gotten one speeding ticket, knock on wood. And that was driving a Arb's FJ cruiser.
[00:12:03.170] - Big Rich Klein
Really?
[00:12:04.830] - Steven Bisig
That was a fun call to see the president of ARB. Just let him know. And he laughed at me like, it took you this long to get a ticket? A speeding ticket. So yeah.
[00:12:17.370] - Big Rich Klein
I had my first speeding ticket. I got my license in March. I was working for a repair facility and I went to pick up a client to get him back to the shop to get his car. And he was like the city architect or engineer where we had the shop. And I picked him up driving the shop fan. I pulled out of his parking lot and went like 150ft to where I stopped because the lights came on behind me. And I thought the guy was just I mean, he wasn't there. And then all of sudden A, he was there. So I pulled over thinking that he was trying to get around me, and he pulls in behind me and got his gun half drawn and he's coming down the side of the van, because it's a cargo van, there's no side windows. And so I'm like, oh, my God. I put my hands out the window and I'm like, don't shoot, don't shoot. And he comes up and he wrote me a ticket for doing 45 miles an hour in a 25. And the guy that I was riding with or that I was driving back to the shop.
[00:13:28.820] - Big Rich Klein
He works for the city and he is just reaming this cop's butt and he's just all over this guy. And the guy goes, well, we'll see you in court, I guess, kid. He wrote the ticket and the guy showed up for juvenile traffic court with me and my dad just to tell the judge that the cop was full of shit because I was like, I don't even know if I went a quarter of a mile. And it was like 150 to 200 yards as far as I got.
[00:14:02.150] - Steven Bisig
Yeah, some of them are out there to get to their quotas.
[00:14:06.300] - Big Rich Klein
Yeah. So growing up, driving the XJ, now I'm seeing how old you are because those XJS aren't that old. Okay, so then you're into the automotive scene, you high school, you're doing the shop classes and everything. Where did it go from there?
[00:14:37.610] - Steven Bisig
So where it went from there, I actually was signed up for UTI to go to school down there, to go through their first program and then hoping to get the Mercedes program, I think it was in Rancho Cucamonga right, I believe was where their program was at one point. And I was trying to remember this prior to the call, but I think the local Mercedes dealership actually came in to our school to talk to us with some of the other dealerships in the area, like the Ford dealership. I think there's a chef dealership. And I met, I can't remember his position, he was a manager position, but he basically persuaded me that it'd be better for them just to put me in the Mercedes program directly versus going to UTI. So I got his information, all that. He told me to come by the dealership, I think it was October after I graduated. And then unfortunately, that's when 911 happened. So when I went to the dealership, they kind of slimmed out. He was no longer at that dealership. And that program the Mercedes had was put on hold, if I remember right. Too, I had friends that were going UTI that were a year ahead of me, and a lot of stuff got put on hold with them down there too, just because everybody was kind of uncertain what was happening.
[00:15:58.190] - Big Rich Klein
Yeah. So then what did you do instead of that UTI program or the Mercedes?
[00:16:04.130] - Steven Bisig
Yeah, so I was working at the time, like during high school, I actually was hired on the Firestone as a Lube tech, so I got to go through the Lube entire tech, so I get to go through the whole Firestone recall, which was fun. That's a lot of overtime for a kid that was going to school full time. Too that was brief. And then I jumped next door to an auto part store, which I kind of climbed the ranks up. I didn't really know what I was going to do, so I managed the Alma retail store for a couple of years and then of course knew that wasn't going to be my full future. My dad's always been in the computers, and it's funny because like, we were talking earlier with a Max. He's always been a Max. He has his own web hosting company. So I decided to create my own website as a four wheel drive website. And I really wish I still had the domain name still because it was four wdrive.com.
[00:17:03.880] - Big Rich Klein
Oh, wow.
[00:17:06.050] - Steven Bisig
I think it is actually available, but they want like three or four grand for it. So my whole goal of that was to just kind of do trip reports. I was going to the local, like, poker run and stuff and taking photos and then also sell product. So, yeah, I kind of wish I would have stuck with it because I was super early. That was in 2002 or 2003. I had working e commerce store using just like the old school built in PayPal check out buttons from there, go ahead and keep continue. But from there I think I reached out to Chris Wood, who was a long term A or B sales rep, and he's actually at a V now. American expedition vehicles. But I reached out to them about setting up accounts. I can't remember if this is 100% accurate, but I believe they reached out to me about a possible position at ARB in the tech department. So again, I'm not 100% sure on that. I can't remember if they reached out to me or if I saw a listing while I was looking up their information. But regardless, they brought me in.
[00:18:25.350] - Steven Bisig
I had an interview. It was kind of for like assistant manager position, the tech department. I didn't get it, but they told me to come back in a couple of months, and I did. And at that point I got hired on by some random guy the listeners might know of. His name is Tech Tim Lund.
[00:18:43.600] - Big Rich Klein
Yes. Who is even harder to get on the phone than you are.
[00:18:50.010] - Steven Bisig
Yeah, he's a busy guy now.
[00:18:52.400] - Big Rich Klein
Yes, he is. So then at ARB, you started off in the tech department.
[00:19:00.280] - Steven Bisig
Yes. Okay, so that was May of 2003, and then I believe it was July. And you'll know, this one, I think it was the following July is when I met you with that We Rock in Goldendale, Washington, right?
[00:19:17.300] - Big Rich Klein
Yeah.
[00:19:18.270] - Steven Bisig
That's where I met you guys. That's where I met a lot of the industry people I still consider friends. The first time I got drunk with the Campbells, met them and got drunk at the Campbells at the Green Silo in Golden Dale. So, yeah, that's kind of made a lot of friends at that event. Former we rock competitor, Rob McKinney.
[00:19:44.320] - Big Rich Klein
Yes.
[00:19:44.780] - Steven Bisig
Which I consider him a best friend of mine now.
[00:19:47.250] - Big Rich Klein
Excellent.
[00:19:48.230] - Steven Bisig
So that was my first trip, or first time really meeting and hanging out with him. So yeah, I have to credit you with a lot to where I'm at now, just from the We Rock event.
[00:19:59.540] - Big Rich Klein
Right. So was Scott service working there at that time?
[00:20:03.490] - Steven Bisig
No, Scott came on I think that was late. Two thousand s I can't remember exactly.
[00:20:11.910] - Big Rich Klein
All right, no worries. So then goldendale your first rock crawl. What did you think when you showed up there and saw what was happening?
[00:20:25.030] - Steven Bisig
Well, that was the first time I actually saw Rock Crawl, I think, in person. I believe I had video cassette tape in of different stuff. There's a little bit. What was this rockcrawler.com? There's a little bit of stuff back then that was all of our especially in our high school class, all of our favorite website at the time. No, it was awesome. It inspired me to start photographing the Rock Crawl events okay. Yeah. And just kind of went down a rabbit hole from there.
[00:21:01.530] - Big Rich Klein
So let's talk about your days at ARB in the tech department. But you didn't stay in the tech department.
[00:21:09.090] - Steven Bisig
No, so I was in the tech department, I think about three years.
[00:21:14.170] - Big Rich Klein
Okay.
[00:21:15.330] - Steven Bisig
I left the tech department right. When I think Tim Lund moved on. I think he left if I remember right, he left to go start his own fabrication, or he's doing a lot of fabrication work on the side. So he was going to go pursue that. So at that time, they moved me up in the customer service, which basically I kind of still fielding technical calls, but just the easy stuff. Prior to getting the tech department, because of my product knowledge, I was eventually moved over to handle Latin America sales.
[00:21:46.180] - Big Rich Klein
So nice.
[00:21:47.120] - Steven Bisig
So I didn't travel or anything. It was all via email. But I handled all the Latin American countries except for Venezuela and Colombia. And then I also did a lot of the forecasting and orderings for old manufacturing, that was my other task.
[00:22:05.880] - Big Rich Klein
So why not Venezuela and Colombia?
[00:22:10.350] - Steven Bisig
Because at the time, they were really big accounts, so the president of the company, Jim Jackson, was handling them directly.
[00:22:17.580] - Big Rich Klein
Okay.
[00:22:18.570] - Steven Bisig
And they were very if I remember right, the dealers at that time were kind of a handful. So everybody else, I mean, I dealt with more. And again, they're the bigger accounts, so they're the ones that need the most attention.
[00:22:36.410] - Big Rich Klein
Right.
[00:22:36.820] - Steven Bisig
So I handled, like, the smaller accounts where I was shipping product out, small batches of products, and so I'm not like big direct shipments or anything like that.
[00:22:46.500] - Big Rich Klein
Okay, that makes sense.
[00:22:47.500] - Steven Bisig
All right.
[00:22:48.440] - Big Rich Klein
And what was the hardest thing from going into ARB for you to learn or assimilate into or anything like that? What was the hardest part of that.
[00:23:04.210] - Steven Bisig
Going into I mean, I had all your basic automotive knowledge, but there was still a lot of off road specific not technology, but technical stuff that I really need to learn. Probably the hardest stuff was just drive train stuff like gear ratios and applications and so on. But luckily having him there, tim super knowledgeable about that I'm really lucky to have. The ARB engineers came over from Australia quite often, which I now call friends of my own. So luckily I have a lot of good teachers at a fairly young age to pick up on all that, to learn it all and be a part of different suspension developments, air locker developments on a few applications. So I'm just grateful I had people that I was working alongside that I learned from.
[00:24:04.550] - Big Rich Klein
So then kind of run through all of your things that you did at ARB because you were there for quite a while.
[00:24:12.290] - Steven Bisig
Yeah, I was there for a little over 17 years. Wow. So tech department, customer service, helping out Latin American sales, they would throw me out in the warehouse every once in awhile just to help check in big, big shipments because they trusted my recording of serial number ability. I would help the accounting department here and there just if they're overload. And then eventually from going to the We Rock events and stuff and doing I really got still photography and a little bit of video at the time, but mostly still photography at that time was right around 20 07, 20 08. They wanted to expand the marketing department, ARB, and because of my photography skills, they felt like that would be perfect for that role at that time. The manager, Lisa Would, she requested and I was brought in to be kind of her assistant to help out with all the sponsorship request. Anything photo related, geez, what else? Event planning and so on. And then eventually when she moved on to go work for General Tire and run their marketing department and so on then, right, let's see here. We brought in we brought in another person.
[00:25:41.270] - Steven Bisig
Okay, man, you're making me dig deep down my memory today. So, right up until 2017, I was in the marketing department. When I left there, my main role was anything photography related, angling outside photography, like studio stuff. We would outsource a lot of the studio photography locally here and Ultra Four stuff. So King of Hammers was kind of my baby just because I attended King of Hammers prior to actually being paid to be there. And we're really proud of what we built up there. The technical support system which rolled into product development of some very high zoo airlockers, which is rolled over to the everyday application airlockers in social media. Social media is my other main task. So social media, photography and really race, anything race related.
[00:26:41.130] - Big Rich Klein
And what kind of stories can you tell or do you remember of those early days at advance besides like meeting Rob McKinney and becoming best friends with him and then drinking with the Campbells, which never happened to anybody in Goldendale or anywhere else. So what are some of the other things, people that you met that made a big impact yeah.
[00:27:14.390] - Steven Bisig
And I hate to, like, just name drop people because they're so well known, but I really enjoyed on the Rock Hall side. Really enjoyed going out to Goldendale, but Donner, Donner was one of my favorite places to go. Ours, too. Yeah. It's just beautiful up there. I took my wife to her first off road event really was there. And she got to meet Jason Scherer, Jason Berger, all those guys. I think I might have met them, actually, in my first time at Donner as well, actually. I did. Yeah.
[00:27:48.620] - Big Rich Klein
Okay.
[00:27:50.170] - Steven Bisig
We stayed at Jason Burger's house. Rob McKinney and I did, and I met Jason Sheer and Burger, and I think Nick Campbell was spotting at the time.
[00:28:00.710] - Big Rich Klein
Right.
[00:28:01.550] - Steven Bisig
For Jason. I just met a lot of awesome people in the industry that I can still talk to here and there and text them even if I'm not able to go to events. That was on the rock crawl side. It was a pretty crazy event when we went down for Supercrawl the one year in Vegas. That was an interesting weekend.
[00:28:24.410] - Big Rich Klein
Right? Why was that interesting without getting anybody in trouble?
[00:28:29.530] - Steven Bisig
No, it's a cool story. I talked to Rob, my friend Rob, who was competing, he actually snapped his Camshaft in a super motor moon buggy.
[00:28:38.830] - Big Rich Klein
Wow.
[00:28:39.260] - Steven Bisig
And Chip Foose's guy was over there. He saw that and he told Rob to, hey, pull that thing out. We could probably weld it up. I just remember us running over to Chip Foose, I think they were what was the show he did was the Hot Rod building show he had. Right. So that Supercrawl was on the right before SEMA and his show. They were doing a live show there. So he had all his fabrication equipment, and yet Chip Foose is, like, main welder guy. He chucked up in a lathe and was able to weld that camshaft back together, and Rob installed it, ran it, and from my understanding, it's hanging on his wall in his garage right now.
[00:29:20.960] - Big Rich Klein
It should yeah. Welded up a camshaft.
[00:29:26.030] - Steven Bisig
And then I remember Chip Foose told us, hey, come grab us next time you're out there to run. Then we want to see your run. And he came out and watched Rob do his run that night. So that was really awesome. Cool story there on the Rock Racing side. King of Hammers since I've been going King of the Hammers since the first non OG year. So what? 2008.
[00:29:50.500] - Big Rich Klein
Right.
[00:29:50.810] - Steven Bisig
So just seeing that grow to what it is now is just insane. I tell that story all the time. I remember when it was just maybe 50, 60 RVs out here, and that.
[00:30:03.890] - Big Rich Klein
Included all the spectators.
[00:30:05.960] - Steven Bisig
Yeah. And how a lot of the media just kind of wrote it off. There weren't that media that I think it was myself and maybe a handful of other guys that were always at the Rock Crawls. And that was it.
[00:30:18.250] - Big Rich Klein
Yeah. I was doing tech yeah, I still.
[00:30:22.920] - Steven Bisig
Have photos from that. I got friends that tell me, man, you need to put all those historical King of Hammers for those up somewhere so everybody can see them. The cars have all changed.
[00:30:35.110] - Big Rich Klein
The technology has been incredible.
[00:30:37.580] - Steven Bisig
Oh, yeah. It's insane. But I can't think of anything else that's not fortunately, but a lot of it had to do with drinking events.
[00:30:52.690] - Big Rich Klein
I think that goes hand in hand with offroaders.
[00:30:55.990] - Steven Bisig
Yeah, but those are the kind of stories I've repeated. I mean, I repeated that King of the Hammers one because a good friend of mine I reconnected with up in a Jeep event this past weekend, he's never been to King of Hammers. And I told him that story. I'm like, man, you just tell them, like, if you drive out that Thursday, Friday night, if you have to drive out to the street, it's just non stop people camping.
[00:31:19.640] - Big Rich Klein
Right.
[00:31:20.540] - Steven Bisig
And he has to experience it. You have to go down and experience it.
[00:31:24.470] - Big Rich Klein
If you're an offroad enthusiast, everybody should get out there once at least, just to see what it's like. I myself have been enough times that I don't need to go that one more time.
[00:31:36.950] - Steven Bisig
Yeah. It can become a very long week. I just haven't been down I haven't been down in forever that I wasn't being paid to work down there. So I'm just looking forward to getting down and not have to do anything on anybody's schedule.
[00:31:52.070] - Big Rich Klein
Well, that's when you get some teams to contract with and do your photography that way.
[00:31:59.210] - Steven Bisig
Yeah, but I kind of just want to go down there as a fan. Okay. Honestly, that my wife wants to go too. She watches on TV all these years and heard stories and she wants to go experience it.
[00:32:13.880] - Big Rich Klein
Right. You don't want to be working if your wife is down there. Let's talk some more about ARB. At the end there, you were doing their social media marketing, I believe.
[00:32:28.880] - Steven Bisig
Yes.
[00:32:29.750] - Big Rich Klein
Okay.
[00:32:34.030] - Steven Bisig
I'm not a person that likes to take tons of like to take credit for anything, but I launched the ARB's, Current, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. But the Instagram was what I was pretty power proud of, just how fast I got that thing to grow. But luckily with ARB, they have awesome photographers in Australia and in the overland market. A lot of people love those Australian vehicles, so they love seeing photos of it. So it was almost like cheating to build that Instagram page just based off the Australian content I had access to.
[00:33:09.230] - Big Rich Klein
Right. That's what amazed me when I went to Australia was their Utes, as they call them. And I mean, everything there, it seemed like, had a rooftop tent or at least an awning.
[00:33:25.690] - Steven Bisig
Yup.
[00:33:26.620] - Big Rich Klein
I mean, maybe not the cars, but anything that was truck or van related that kind of that way was just incredible.
[00:33:38.770] - Steven Bisig
Yeah. And you really need a vehicle like over there if you want to. Leave the city. If I remember right, too, I've been told that I think there are national parks over there. A lot of them are required to have a four wheel drive, like, high clearance four wheel drive. So it's almost like unless you want to stay in a city all the time where the suburbs you really need something somewhat built.
[00:34:01.020] - Big Rich Klein
Yes. Yeah, we did national parks while we were there. We're there for a rock crawl, for a we rock event, Australia event. And then we went from that was in Sydney. And then we went up the what is the bush? Not the outback. It goes to coastal area, the mountains and then the bush. And then you get into the desert area, the true outback. But we stayed in that bush area and hit a bunch of the national well, we stayed every night at national parks. And they're a lot different than us national parks. They remind me more of, like, our state parks where there's more activities instead of our national parks are like, look at the geological wonders. Our state parks are more like, hey, come out and enjoy this lake or this river or something like that. And that's what I realized. They're national parks, at least in the areas that we went.
[00:35:08.530] - Steven Bisig
Yeah, that's true. I've never actually thought about the comparison between the national park and the state park, but, yeah, definitely it's all about activities in the state park. Really.
[00:35:18.390] - Big Rich Klein
The only thing that got me about Australia was the dang kangaroos. Well, there was a lot of things that got I thought they were hilarious, the kangaroos. The first couple of days that we were there, I never saw a live one. I saw lots of dead ones. And I told Shelley, I said, I think they just pick up dead kangaroos and just throw them on the side of the road so tourists can see a kangaroo. And then we stopped at this national park and we rented a Land Rover 110 that had a rooftop tent and an awning. And it was all set up and everything for Overlanding. And I was getting set up, and I turn around and there's this big gray kangaroo, three of them, and they were totally mean, mugging me and all flexed out like I thought they wanted my wallet. And I'm looking at it and I'm going, all right, I'm almost looking eye to eye with this guy and he is just ripped, right? And I'm thinking, I'm not sure how to deal with this. I mean, if we were in the United States and I was in the wrong neighborhood and I would know how to deal with it, but I'm out in the woods.
[00:36:36.130] - Big Rich Klein
This old guy that was camped a couple of spots away goes, just don't worry about them, mate. And he comes down there and he starts yelling at them and shooing them off. And they took off. And I looked at him and I said, man, they look meaner in hell. And he goes he goes, oh, that's just the looks. They're not though. It was like, okay, yeah, I've seen.
[00:36:56.330] - Steven Bisig
Some pictures of them. They're bodybuilders over there.
[00:36:59.070] - Big Rich Klein
Yeah, they are. I don't know what it is. I guess it's just the way they're built, but pretty crazy. And then the other thing they had over there were these Australian bush turkeys, which the first sign we saw said where we stopped at a roadside area where there was an informational sign for the National Park and it said, be on the lookout for the rare bush turkey, australian bush turkey. And I'm thinking, okay, and it's all wooded. Well, then we get to another camp and there's nothing rare about them. They were everywhere, but they were trying to be really sly. They love plastic bags, like what you'd get at the grocery store. So if you had one of those hanging with anything in it, they'd try to sneak up and then grab that trash bag and haul ass because they knew there was either food of some type in them. And then like one guy was camping next to us, came back after being gone all day, and they'd gotten into his stuff, his plastic bag, and it was full of dirty clothes and his clothes were spread out all over the campground.
[00:38:16.170] - Steven Bisig
Oh, man.
[00:38:17.320] - Big Rich Klein
Yeah, he wasn't too thrilled with that. So then after ARB, where did you go?
[00:38:28.490] - Steven Bisig
Yes, so after ARB, I went to a local shop here in Washington that really specialized in the Overland market. Okay. That was about a little over a year or so working there as the marketing manager. So handling pretty much anything marketing related from event planning, e commerce. I cleaned up the ecommerce store, improved it. Yeah, I mean anything really ecommerce and marketing, I did it there. Okay. A lot different going from a big corporation, ARB down to a small regional company.
[00:39:09.350] - Big Rich Klein
Right. With only a handful full of employees.
[00:39:12.310] - Steven Bisig
Yes, there's 24 full employees, I believe.
[00:39:15.820] - Big Rich Klein
Okay.
[00:39:17.150] - Steven Bisig
And then most recently, it's a lot bigger company, but not ARB big. Now I handle digital marketing, so mainly Google Ads for a company called After Market Performance Group. So I've been there since June, I believe was about June. Absolutely love it. It's an enthusiast run company that pretty much everybody in this company that I've dealt with are car people, whether it's on the truck side, jeep side, or car go fast, subaru stuff. But the Group is a group that owns several ecommerce based companies, distribution centers, so that is supply to the mom and pop shops as well as manufacturers of actual products as well. So the listeners are going to be more familiar with one of the companies, which is Northridge. That's one of the brands under the aftermarket performance group.
[00:40:17.250] - Big Rich Klein
Okay, what are the other brands?
[00:40:19.790] - Steven Bisig
So on the truck side you have Stage Three motorsports, which is a lot of like half ton Ford, so F 150, Ram 1500, some Mustang stuff.
[00:40:31.630] - Big Rich Klein
And that's called stage.
[00:40:32.720] - Steven Bisig
Street Stage. Okay. Stage three motorsports.
[00:40:37.110] - Big Rich Klein
Stage three, yes. And that's not what I heard.
[00:40:43.410] - Steven Bisig
So that's all kind of the raptor stuff. The smaller four vehicles you have, Alligator Performance, which is I believe they purchased that right before I started. That's all like not heavy diesel. I keep saying heavy diesel, but like F250 - 3/4quarter ton and bigger, essentially. That's kind of on the truck side. And then on the car side, company Rally Sport Direct, which is all what it sounds like. High performance parts for Subarus. And then there's a few other companies like Subi Speed, Ft Speed. So it's all catering to import street market. Really nice. And then some of these companies also manufacture their own products. So that's why the group purchased them, because they wanted manufacturing abilities as well. And then there's distribution centers. So Premier Performance is a big one for a lot of the mom and pop off road shops. A lot of people purchase through them. That's where you can get a lot of if you specialize in four wheel drive stuff, then you should have heard of them by now. Right. My role is really Google Ads for all these channels. So I'm handling the Jeep. Side stuff. That's been super easy because I'm a Jeep guy.
[00:42:01.830] - Steven Bisig
I can write copy, I know the photos, I know the vehicles. Sorry. The import car side has been kind of a learning curve. Right. Because I haven't really besides having friends back in high school, having law on the Civics and such, was never really exposed to imports besides Mercedes.
[00:42:22.500] - Big Rich Klein
Okay.
[00:42:23.610] - Steven Bisig
So that's where I'm at right now. Again, awesome company. They really pride themselves on a company full of car enthusiasts, all the move enthusiasts who are running the company. So, yeah, super happy with this company being here.
[00:42:37.970] - Big Rich Klein
That sounds like a good fit for you.
[00:42:40.120] - Steven Bisig
Yeah. And then also to just staring at a computer screen all day. It has been a little bit of transition. However, it's really pushing me to want to be outside all on the weekends, which I haven't felt that in a long time.
[00:42:57.090] - Big Rich Klein
Right, I noticed because we talk a lot, not necessarily by phone. We do a lot of texting and messaging. But you've been doing a lot of camping and going out on the adventure trails and stuff up there in Washington.
[00:43:14.400] - Steven Bisig
Yes. So I'm just trying to I have a vehicle built for it, so I'm just trying to explore our state as much as possible, really. And it's been awesome.
[00:43:23.740] - Big Rich Klein
Let's talk about that vehicle.
[00:43:26.910] - Steven Bisig
Yeah. So, like I said, I'm a Jeep guy, so I've actually got four Jeeps in the stable. So it wasn't my first one, but my first real Jeep was I have a 93 YJ I've had since I was 20. I've completely built it up myself. It's pretty much it's got airlockers front and rear. It's your basic low Jeep YJ on 35. So around here, a lot of our trails are tight when you do a lot of tree dodging. So most smaller Jeeps like a YJ or a TJ and stuff, 35 inch tires is about perfect. So it's kind of built for, again, tree dodging around here. And some of our trails were built by are actually old Pioneer Wagon trails. That tells you how narrow some of these trails are.
[00:44:15.640] - Big Rich Klein
Right.
[00:44:18.150] - Steven Bisig
So that's my main Jeep. Unfortunately, it's kind of been neglected. This lives in a garage, but it's been neglected because last year I purchased the Gladiator and put a lot of time and money into that, and it's built for mainly camping and adventure travel. Special order. I fell in love with the Gladiator when I worked at A or B, and then the diesel came out. So I special order one with a diesel firecracker red and very minimal options. Just minimal options because I knew what I was going to do to it. I knew I was going to put a better suspension on there. I knew I was going to put air lockers in the front and rear bumpers and so on. So I didn't want to spend them extra money on a package that I was just going to take off anyway.
[00:45:00.810] - Big Rich Klein
Right, that makes sense.
[00:45:02.950] - Steven Bisig
That's my main venture vehicle camping vehicle. It's got an Allyoucab Canopy Camper, which is a South African company that builds what sounds like it's a canopy and has a built in tent system that you access via inside the canopy.
[00:45:21.970] - Big Rich Klein
Right, I've seen those. One of the girls on the Rebel had one. Of course, they couldn't use it because the tent camp and the vehicles go into an impound. So the girls have come with rooftop tents or anything like that. They don't end up using them, but that and then we were camped next to somebody in Minnesota, I believe it was, that had one, and we checked it out and they're really nice.
[00:45:53.650] - Steven Bisig
Yeah, I absolutely love it. It's pretty much completely sealed. This past weekend, I was in some nasty silk, like, really deep silt. I see a little trace of dust in there, so I got to chase that down. But otherwise, I mean, it's almost 100% sealed. No dust has a heater system in there. So I'm really looking forward to snow camping this winter game out there.
[00:46:17.570] - Big Rich Klein
That's what these people said. They were from the northern part of the country, and they said that it was a four season camper.
[00:46:27.130] - Steven Bisig
Yeah, I just need to do a little insulation on there and then we'll be good to go. The other vehicles, I got to mention it because my wife will probably listen to the podcast, but she's got her baby, which is a 2018 Grand Cherokee with a 57 in it.
[00:46:41.920] - Big Rich Klein
Oh, nice.
[00:46:43.030] - Steven Bisig
And for her birthday, we installed a course of exhaust on there. And the thing just sounds amazing now. So again, it's her baby. She doesn't want to think about ever getting rid of it. And then I have my grocery getter. I got a two wheel drive 2001 silver Jeep Cherokee.
[00:47:05.120] - Big Rich Klein
There you go.
[00:47:06.370] - Steven Bisig
My wife hates she doesn't know why I still have it, and I have to tell her all the time. This is my going to parking garages and running the grocery store.
[00:47:14.690] - Big Rich Klein
You don't worry about door dings or anything?
[00:47:17.050] - Steven Bisig
No.
[00:47:19.430] - Big Rich Klein
That makes sense. So let's talk about how you guys met.
[00:47:26.250] - Steven Bisig
Well, it's kind of funny. We've actually met on MySpace. Yes, you were friends with Tom. Yeah, exactly. It's kind of funny that she would just send me and she sent me a couple of friend requests, and the second one I approved. Just some random we started talking. I joked and said that she stalked me online. She recognized it, but she trusted me. And her parents let me pick her up one day, first time meeting, and I took her down to our local state fair, which is a huge fair. It's a massive fair, but that was our first date.
[00:48:08.530] - Big Rich Klein
That's a state fair. Awesome.
[00:48:10.320] - Steven Bisig
First time ever meeting in person, first date.
[00:48:15.610] - Big Rich Klein
Kind of a blind date. I mean, you've seen pictures, but it's a lot different. Meeting for the first time can be unnerving, especially if you've communicated digitally.
[00:48:31.370] - Steven Bisig
It was all via Facebook or sorry, MySpace messaging and phone calls. I mean, we talked on the phone, but that was the first time meeting after talking for about a month.
[00:48:41.450] - Big Rich Klein
Interesting. And you were working at ARB then, right?
[00:48:48.050] - Steven Bisig
Yes, I actually picked her up our first day. I picked her up and can't remember if it was FJ Cruiser or a full runner we had, but it was a company car.
[00:48:59.370] - Big Rich Klein
Nice.
[00:48:59.820] - Steven Bisig
So the boss at the time let me borrow it for the day.
[00:49:02.910] - Big Rich Klein
Did the company pay for gas or.
[00:49:04.540] - Steven Bisig
Did you no, I pay for gas. And then going forward, it was mostly me picking it up and my little black YJ. So that's where we went out and dates with.
[00:49:17.190] - Big Rich Klein
Was she at all involved or interested in offroad at that time?
[00:49:22.020] - Steven Bisig
No, when I met her, she had a Ford course.
[00:49:26.430] - Big Rich Klein
Okay.
[00:49:26.930] - Steven Bisig
And then within a couple of years, she had a ZJ that we built up for her, and she absolutely loved that. That was my commuter for a minute until somebody decided to run a stop sign and take me out. But no, she was not a car person at all. And the funny thing is, her grandfather, he owns one of the biggest tire distribution centers in Seattle at the time, or not at the time, but when he was younger. So her whole family was built up. Not built, but her whole family was involved in the automotive industry. But no, she was driving a Ford Tourist.
[00:50:05.370] - Big Rich Klein
Interesting. And how long have you guys been married?
[00:50:11.610] - Steven Bisig
It was 13 years this July.
[00:50:13.790] - Big Rich Klein
13 years this July. Congratulations.
[00:50:16.300] - Steven Bisig
Thank you.
[00:50:17.550] - Big Rich Klein
So what is on the horizon for you? What are your hopes and dreams?
[00:50:26.110] - Steven Bisig
Boy, that's a hard question.
[00:50:29.140] - Big Rich Klein
So you can take your time. I can edit out all the long, drawn out blanks.
[00:50:35.050] - Steven Bisig
Yeah. I'm just kind of grateful that, again, I've met so many people, I've accomplished so much so far at a fairly young age. We were smart and we purchased a home super early. Actually. We purchased it before we actually officially got married.
[00:50:53.170] - Big Rich Klein
That's commitment.
[00:50:54.750] - Steven Bisig
Yeah. With the real estate market around here, we made off like a bandit and purchased kind of a dream home now that we probably won't ever leave until we can't find the stairs or our bedroom anymore.
[00:51:06.140] - Big Rich Klein
Okay.
[00:51:06.860] - Steven Bisig
That's probably happy with my super, happy with the career, the people I've met again, accomplishments in photography, everything. So yeah, I don't really have side staying healthy. I kind of need to get out more, even more than I have been or so much of the state that I haven't seen.
[00:51:34.670] - Big Rich Klein
Sure. What is the area that you want to go to in Washington the most that you haven't explored yet?
[00:51:42.770] - Steven Bisig
I explored most of the area, but the area that I need to explore more is actually the Olympic Peninsula. There is actually a lot of roads, back roads and such you can go explore.
[00:51:52.100] - Big Rich Klein
Exactly.
[00:51:55.590] - Steven Bisig
One of the reasons we're never going to move away from this area probably is because we both love the mountain snow and saltwater, so I love the beaches. So I haven't really explored or gone down the Oregon or the California coast. So that's all listed in the next couple of years as well. We both love the ocean, love the salt water and then maybe down the road and my wife will probably laugh and hit me or something like this, but would like to get a boat at some point and explore by water up here in the Puget Sound.
[00:52:29.790] - Big Rich Klein
I would have to agree with that. I would love to explore the Puget Sound. Yeah.
[00:52:35.370] - Steven Bisig
We're lucky to have an uncle that's got a boat. So I've spent a lot of time in the San Juan's and the Gulf Islands, which is the Canadian San Juan in north up into Canada. But it would be really fun to really explore and then also even by jeep too. One of the reasons I picked up the diesel gladiator too, was to get up into Canada. We're only three hour drive about to the Canadian border in BC. So there's lots of stuff out there. I'm seeing a lot of stuff on YouTube on Vancouver Island and on the mainland and just you can get super remote out there. So I'd love to get up in that area in the next year or so.
[00:53:16.050] - Big Rich Klein
That's cool. And then any other lifelong goals. You want to write a book or a coffee table book on your photography or anything like that?
[00:53:32.890] - Steven Bisig
Yeah, I've got a lot of years of sports photography. So that would be something. It's sad. I have no photos of nuts. I have no photos in the house that I've actually taken. So there's nothing on the walls. My office has no photos in the walls, living room, nothing. So I have a stockpile of both. Some landscape sports photography, so someday I want to print them out and maybe do a photo book.
[00:53:59.300] - Big Rich Klein
So let's talk about your sports photography for a little bit. How did you get involved in doing that, and what was the first league that you shot?
[00:54:09.790] - Steven Bisig
So, funny enough that my break into sports photography was actually through a contact I met at ARB. Prior to that was after doing all the off road stuff, I really want to kind of do some mainstream sports. So there was a local semi pro football league I hooked up with that would go do all their marketing photos, and the players would buy photos from me. So that was kind of a real break in on non motamo sports. And then a friend of actually, I got credit, Tim London on this one, too, but a good friend of Tim. While I was at ARB as a tech, he was the team photographer for the Detroit Lions at the time.
[00:54:52.170] - Big Rich Klein
Okay.
[00:54:52.680] - Steven Bisig
So I got to know him. He mentored me. I got to fly out to Detroit, and I flew actually to one of the 40 niner games, too, when Detroit was in town and just basically built a portfolio of NFL photos. And then kind of once you have that, for me, at least my experience, once I have that base of photos and people go see, well, he's been on the NFL sidelines, he must be okay, he must be trustworthy, and then doors just kind of opened up. So I've been shooting for USAID Today Sports, covering all the Seattle team since I think 2011 was my first year with them. Wow. I've shot Mariners. Like, this year's been really heavy on the Mariners. They really want to cover the team the entire season because they felt pretty good that they make the playoffs, and it looks like that's going to happen. I've shot the Seahawks all these years sounders, which is our pro team, and then our pro soccer team, some university Washington stuff over the years. And then now we have a professional hockey team up here finally. So now I'm part of that, covering that, too.
[00:56:02.870] - Steven Bisig
We covered that entire season last year.
[00:56:05.610] - Big Rich Klein
That's pretty awesome. So I'm going to tell you a story that was I graduated from Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara back in the day, when it was a good school. In fact, it was still around it's one of the top three photography schools in the United States. And when I got out of college, my family had been niner season ticket holders for, like, since 70, 71 in that range. I graduated in 81 and I contacted the 49 Ers and said, hey, I'd like to do a photo essay throughout the year, starting at the beginning of training camp. Or it was in April when I graduated from college, so it was right after that is when I contacted him, and I said, from day one in the building, I'll just be a shadow. Nobody will even know I'm there. I just want to do a photo essay of the whole year. And they came back and said, you know, that's a great idea, but no thank you. And I said, well, what about becoming a game day photographer? And they said, well, you need press credentials. So at the time, I was living in Pacifica, so I got hold of the Pacifica newspaper, and I said, hey, I need press credentials because I've got a chance to go shoot the Niners during game days.
[00:57:33.180] - Big Rich Klein
And they said, oh, okay. So they made me official press with them. I contacted the Niners and they said, no, you have to have real credentials from a real newspaper or news outlet. Well, The Chronicle and The examiner, and none of those guys were going to do anything, so I got really frustrated. Well, that was the year that the Niners won their first Super Bowl with Montana at 81 82 season, and I was just like, are you kidding me? That would have been such a breakthrough to be able to have that.
[00:58:12.710] - Steven Bisig
Yeah, it didn't happen.
[00:58:18.090] - Big Rich Klein
Anyway. If that would have happened, I'd have probably been completely different, and I wouldn't have been in off road, and my life would be completely different, and I'm glad it's not.
[00:58:28.230] - Steven Bisig
Yeah, I'm fortunate. I get to do both. I'm a rarity, I think, in the off road industry. I like mainstream sports and offroading and dirt sports.
[00:58:38.860] - Big Rich Klein
Right. And Formula One.
[00:58:41.360] - Steven Bisig
Yeah, formula One is I'm a big fan of Formula One.
[00:58:44.770] - Big Rich Klein
Most people, that when they talk about anything automotive, especially competitive automotive sports, ball and stick sports, they're not interested in.
[00:58:59.070] - Steven Bisig
Exactly.
[00:58:59.950] - Big Rich Klein
It's like, you can't do both. And I think that's bull. You heard it here America. So then things are going great in your life, it sounds like.
[00:59:14.320] - Steven Bisig
Oh, yeah, super heavy, excellent.
[00:59:17.440] - Big Rich Klein
And you're in the house. That your life long house, it sounds like.
[00:59:24.190] - Steven Bisig
Yes, unless we win the lottery, or again, we can't walk up the stairs anymore. We don't plan on moving.
[00:59:30.150] - Big Rich Klein
Okay, you spoke with the lottery unless you win the lottery. But do you play?
[00:59:36.790] - Steven Bisig
I do. I do every once in a while. Yeah. All right. I'll throw a couple of bucks at it when I go to the grocery store.
[00:59:42.390] - Big Rich Klein
Okay, that's fine. I do too, because when anybody says that, I said, but do you play? And if they say, well, no, and I said, then you can't use that. You got to come up with something else.
[00:59:52.250] - Steven Bisig
Yeah, exactly. No, I will. I'll pull a couple of bucks out of my wallet anytime I'm at the grocery store.
[00:59:57.400] - Big Rich Klein
Excellent.
[00:59:58.930] - Steven Bisig
I figure if I'm going to win, it's going to win off a couple of bucks. It's not going to win off. How? Some people throw $100 at the machine when the lottery hits a big number. Yeah.
[01:00:08.220] - Big Rich Klein
No, I don't do that. So then what do you do besides sports photography and automotive? What other passions do you have? Do you do any art? Do you do any construction around the house?
[01:00:33.670] - Steven Bisig
Yeah, it's with this current house, it's not a passion, but remodeled the kitchen for the most part myself with help of some family members on some of the framing stuff for a larger window. But I've always been kind of a self taught person so I always look into something before I have to pay for anything, which I don't like to do if I know I can figure it out or do it. So I tried to be a fisherman.
[01:01:04.630] - Big Rich Klein
You know what they named it wrong. They did it right. You're out fishing? It's not called catching. Some people get really lucky. But yes.
[01:01:19.770] - Steven Bisig
Even this past weekend I took the Jeep up and I got up to kind of a remote. It's considered a high lake in this area. And I knew the lake was listed as an abundant lake by the Washington Fish and Wildlife because it was overpopulated. Right. So I figured I have to be able to grab one out of there. I got up to this lake. It's a little over 5000ft elevation. You can look out in the water and at any given point see at least 15 fish swimming around. And I tried an hour and nothing. That's my fishing ability.
[01:01:55.110] - Big Rich Klein
So you didn't use the net lure, huh?
[01:01:58.490] - Steven Bisig
No, I was up there by myself. Just me. Didn't see anybody else, just the fish and nothing.
[01:02:06.350] - Big Rich Klein
And they just looked and laughed at you?
[01:02:08.260] - Steven Bisig
Yeah, pretty much. I would have starved that night. Unfortunately I don't get out that often the fish, but I kind of prefer saltwater fishing. We have king salmon runs up here, silver salmon. We have crabbing is awesome, but it can be awesome up here. So I really enjoy that, getting out in the salt water. Unfortunately I didn't get out there this year. But when it comes to fishing, I really prefer the salt. Trying to think of anything else, I.
[01:02:43.440] - Big Rich Klein
Think we touched all the bases.
[01:02:46.010] - Steven Bisig
Yeah. Because really my free time besides house duties, I'm usually out in the Jeep somewhere exploring up in the mountains or along the coast. I used to be real in the hiking but I haven't really done that for a long time.
[01:03:03.480] - Big Rich Klein
Okay. I know Tim London has been training on his mountain bike because he's going to go to Scotland with his son on bikes or something like that. Are you training like that still?
[01:03:20.630] - Steven Bisig
No. Okay. Actually I knew he was in the mountain biking, but I didn't know him in Dallas. His son were planning on a big trip like that. That's cool.
[01:03:29.320] - Big Rich Klein
Yeah, that's why I haven't been able to get him on there. Every time I get hold of him, I said, hey, are you ready? And he goes, no, I'm going to be too tired. I'm going to go out and do 25 miles or 50 miles tomorrow. And I'm like, okay, I'll do that with this truck.
[01:03:46.450] - Steven Bisig
Yeah, maybe this will be a little bit of a kick in the butt. There you go.
[01:03:51.050] - Big Rich Klein
Yes, I'd like to get them on anyway. All right, well, hey, Steven, thank you so much for coming on and spending some time and talking about yourself and your history and your off road passion and your photography passion. I really appreciate it.
[01:04:06.400] - Steven Bisig
Yeah, thanks for having me on.
[01:04:08.020] - Big Rich Klein
All right. And so you take care and I'll call you later.
[01:04:12.780] - Steven Bisig
Cool. Cheers.
[01:04:13.770] - Big Rich Klein
All right, bye. Bye. Well, that's another episode of Conversations with Big Rich. I'd like to thank you all for listening. If you could do us a favor and leave us a review on any podcast service that you happen to be listening on or send us an email or text message or Facebook message and let me know any ideas that you have or if there's anybody that you have that you think would be a great guest. Please forward the contact information to me so that we can try to get them on. And always remember, live life to the fullest. Enjoying life is a must. Follow your dreams and live life with all the gusto you can. Thank you.