Episode 167 features the Milkman, Nate Hurst

Family man, Nate Hurst – the milkman, joins us on Episode 167 to talk about competitive rockcrawling, Rock Crawlers for Sale, and the Delta Classic Rock Crawl. Still on a high from a great weekend at Delta, Nate tells some funny stories about him and Ryan Maxfield. It’s a great listen, be sure to tune in on your favorite podcast app.

4:52 – It was a curse, doing well in school pretty easily, it was a curse

12:18 – it was really awesome until 3 months ago, our bank collapsed in outstanding fashion              

17:01 – my dad’s desire to work on stuff himself molded me a bit 

22:06 – then, in 2008, I bought the current XJ I have, Snowflake

28:43 – “Well, are you going around for the bonus line?” I was like, year, I’m doing the bonus line!

36:51 – I have the big check for $45 hanging in my garage

41:56 – the relationship is crazy because we’ve got each others lives in our hands

51:15 – He’s like, where’s the cone at? And she held her hands right up in the air, and then patted the cone three or four time – the cones’ right here!

Special thanks to 4low Magazine and Maxxis Tires for support and sponsorship of this podcast.

Transcript

[00:00:01.020] - 

Welcome to Conversations with Big Rich. This is an interview style podcast. Those interviewed 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 past, present, and future legends, as well as business owners, employees, media, and land use warriors. Men and women who have found their way into this exciting and addictive lifestyle we call offroad. We discuss their personal history, struggles, successes, and reboots. We dive into what drives them to stay active in offroad. We all hope to shed some light on how to find a path into this world that we live and love and call offroad.

[00:00:46.160] - 

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.

[00:01:13.010] - B

Have you seen 4Low Magazine yet? 4Low Magazine is a high quality, well written, 4WD 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.

[00:01:39.870] - Big Rich Klein

On today's episode of Conversations with Big Rich, we have Nate Hurst. Nate is a rockcrawler. He is a spotter. He is the co promoter of the Delta Classic Rock Crawl, and he's been around our scene for quite a while now. Most of the people that are competing now would know who he is, whether they're East or West Coast. Nate, I want to say thank you so much for coming on and sharing your story with us.

[00:02:08.500] - Nate Hurst

Yeah, glad to be here. Thanks for having me on, Rich.

[00:02:11.590] - Big Rich Klein

Let's jump right in. I'm assuming that you're a Utah boy?

[00:02:18.570] - Nate Hurst

Yes, sir. I was born in Taylorsville, Utah, born and raised. I really only lived in two houses as a kid, and then struck it on my own after that. But yeah, so just in Taylorsville. And now I'm in West Jordan, which is several miles away as all. So yeah, kept it pretty tight on my location. Okay.

[00:02:39.980] - Big Rich Klein

And growing up, what activities were you into?

[00:02:46.500] - Nate Hurst

So I was born in '83. So like most kids my age, we played all of the sports, right? That was just a part of growing up when I was a kid. And sadly, it's not really a part of growing up now, it seems, at least with my kids and their friends. But yeah, I played basketball, baseball, soccer, a little bit of football. I was always playing sports and riding bikes and skateboarding. And it seems like most of it is geared around being outside, honestly.

[00:03:17.470] - Big Rich Klein

And was that something that the outdoors, did that come naturally with the parents as well? Did you guys go camping and that stuff?

[00:03:28.110] - Nate Hurst

A hundred %. Yeah. We didn't have a lot of money like a lot of people. And my parents really enjoyed camping themselves and with four kids. So my siblings were all very close in age. So my parents had four kids in five years, which, as a parent now, I think is insane. I do not know how they do it, but I respect that they just got four kids and got it done. Then they were done. But yes, we spent a lot of time outdoors. We went camping. Obviously, Utah has amazing national and state parks. And we just grew up going to those places, catching lizards and whatever. It's always been a part of my life.

[00:04:12.780] - Big Rich Klein

And how were you as a student?

[00:04:16.090] - Nate Hurst

So I was actually a really good student. School came pretty easy to me. And then I got to high school, and you'll see this theme with a lot of people, I'm sure, especially rock crawlers. I got to high school and I got distracted by stuff, but I still managed to stay on the honor roll, a three and above GPA pretty easily. I took a ton of college classes in high school through concurrent enrollment. And it was just, I don't know, it was just easy. But honestly, that didn't set me up well for how hard college was going to be because that takes actual effort.

[00:04:51.380] - Big Rich Klein

Right.

[00:04:52.370] - Nate Hurst

Yeah, it was a curse, honestly, doing well in school pretty easily. It was a curse.

[00:04:58.440] - Big Rich Klein

I agree with that. I always took tests really well, which helped in high school. You didn't have to apply as much. College, there was a lot more application needed, especially when I got into my major, going for my AA, it's all just about the same as high school, except you have to do it yourself. You can't rely on the teacher to give you the information like they do in high school. So yeah, I get it totally.

[00:05:36.150] - Nate Hurst

Yeah, agreed.

[00:05:38.650] - Big Rich Klein

So then after high school, did you jump into college?

[00:05:43.600] - Nate Hurst

So I did some community college for a couple of years, but I started working so young. I was just always working, it seemed like. And so when I tried to actually do college, even in high school, man, I was working 20 some hours a week, working nights and stuff. And then once I graduated from high school, I just kept working and started working full-time. And so I was going to community college at night. And I never really found what it was that I wanted to do. And I got so sick of taking core classes and having four teachers tell you, go home and read pages 22 through 90. And it was just, I don't know, it wasn't doable for me. It took way too much of my time, and I just had other things I wanted to do. So I never got that degree, which has been okay so far. But we'll see long term if I regret that. I don't know.

[00:06:38.960] - Big Rich Klein

So what work did you do while you were in high school?

[00:06:46.290] - Nate Hurst

So in high school, I worked at Delta Center. That's where the Jazz play. I did concessions there, worked in the catering area. And that was when I was 13, 14. And I got away with it because we just said I was 16, and I was a tall kid, so they just believed it. And then once I finally turned 16, I started working there legit. And the guy that was in charge was like, I knew you weren't 16. But then after that, I went on to work at a restaurant, the Mayan, which is one of Larry H. Miller's big things that has the divers and stuff that jump off the cliff into the water. And that was really only worth it because it was super easy work. And that's where I actually met my wife. So it actually worked out really well there.

[00:07:38.890] - Big Rich Klein

Were you both servers or what?

[00:07:41.280] - Nate Hurst

We were both food runners. So we're the ones that just take that. Yeah, just take of food to the tables. And mixed in there as well, I worked at Bradshaw Auto parts, which was really fun. Gave me a little bit of a foray into automotive stuff, which was really fun.

[00:08:00.440] - Big Rich Klein

After that work in those three jobs, high school, what were you doing when you were in college? Same thing?

[00:08:16.860] - Nate Hurst

So I was working at Bradshaw for a little while while I was college age out of high school. And then I went to work for Salt Lake County and Land Records because my family members, my siblings had all worked for the Salt Lake County Recorders office. It's a good temp job. And if you were lucky or unlucky now, looking back, you'd get hired on permanently, right? Doing that government work.

[00:08:42.220] - Big Rich Klein

Are you still there then? Is that why you said that?

[00:08:45.720] - Nate Hurst

So I'm not. So I worked there for 10 years and then realized that, I don't know, the public sector wasn't really for me and dealing with the politics and the drama of all of it, of how long you're there is the number one most important thing. It got old, so I got out of that. But it was a good 10 years. I worked there for a long time.

[00:09:10.240] - Big Rich Klein

When did you get married at what point?

[00:09:14.590] - Nate Hurst

I was 22 years old, which looking back feels really young. But Utah standards, it's really not that young. It's maybe actually about a year, probably about a year older than average for Utah. Kids get back from their missions and get married immediately. So 22 years old. We'd been dating for four years at that point, so no one was really shocked that we got married. Not a real shocker.

[00:09:43.340] - Big Rich Klein

And you were working at that point then you.

[00:09:47.300] - Nate Hurst

Were working for the county?

[00:09:48.840] - Big Rich Klein

At.

[00:09:49.340] - Nate Hurst

The county. So I had what we thought was a stable job, and my wife had a good job. She just barely left Men's Warehouse to work for a drug rehab, actually, just on a whim a guy she worked with said, Hey, come work with me over here. And that's about the same time we bought a house right after we got married. We bought a house, right? And she just randomly, after working there for two months, got laid off. So similar to Ryan's story in that we just bought a house and one of us got laid off. Yeah. The difference in my story is this was while the market was still going up. This was early 2007. And so we bought more house than we could afford because they're giving loans to anybody. And then she got laid off. Luckily, she got a good job right after that. But then the market crashed and it was ugly for a while. We didn't know what we were going to have to do, but we hung in there, stuck it out. And 15 years later, we ended up selling that house for twice as much as we paid for it, right?

[00:10:54.570] - Big Rich Klein

Perfect.

[00:10:56.120] - Nate Hurst

It worked out.

[00:10:57.610] - Big Rich Klein

And kids?

[00:10:59.120] - Nate Hurst

How many? Kids? Yeah. So I have three kids. I have a 10 year old boy, a 7 year old boy, and a 3 year old girl. So we all know which one is the spoiled one.

[00:11:08.900] - Big Rich Klein

Oh, yeah. The 3 year old.

[00:11:11.400] - Nate Hurst

Yes, absolutely. She has all of us wrapped around her little fingers for sure.

[00:11:18.900] - Big Rich Klein

That's okay, though. That's okay.

[00:11:21.060] - Nate Hurst

Yeah, it is.

[00:11:22.360] - Big Rich Klein

It's all right for Daddy to have a little princess.

[00:11:24.910] - Nate Hurst

Oh, yeah, absolutely. I love it.

[00:11:28.990] - Big Rich Klein

So then after the county, what came next?

[00:11:34.970] - Nate Hurst

So after the county, I went to work in Colorado for actually a fracking fuel company. And the plan was to move there just above Fort Collins and Wellington, and we were all excited. We had the one kid at that point. Our house here in Utah just would not sell. And the job out there was actually seemed a little bit rougher than it was supposed to be, more hours and stuff. And so bailed on that after three months, unfortunately. So I came back to Utah, felt stuck a little bit. Started working for a couple of little random jobs in the tech sector, and then finally got hired on at the bank where I'm working now.

[00:12:17.060] - Big Rich Klein

So you're a banker?

[00:12:18.770] - Nate Hurst

Yeah. So I didn't realize that. Yeah, global treasury banking. It's like the most boring thing ever you can explain. But yeah, it was really awesome until three months ago, our bank collapsed in outstanding fashion. It was very It.

[00:12:39.760] - Big Rich Klein

Wasn't that one that we heard about down in Silicon Valley, was it?

[00:12:45.320] - Nate Hurst

It absolutely was Silicon Valley Bank. I've been there for nine years. My wife's been there for 16 years. She also works there. It's been an exciting few months with all that stuff going on. Just wondering what's going to happen next type of deal. Not what I expected to be doing or to be worried about at this age in my life, but it is what it is.

[00:13:12.130] - Big Rich Klein

So what's the plan then? Are you guys still working for them? W eren't they taken over by the Feds?

[00:13:21.040] - Nate Hurst

Got taken over by the Feds for a few weeks and then sold to a bank out of North Carolina. We are both still employed and just riding it out to see what happens. We're both not too excited about finding something new. And so we figured we'd see how it goes first before we jump ship. But I also just don't know what I want to be when I grow up, Rich.

[00:13:43.950] - Big Rich Klein

It was weird. I was 42 when I figured it out, finally.

[00:13:48.050] - Nate Hurst

Yeah. So I've still got three years then. It's good to know.

[00:13:50.810] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah. That's when I became an event promoter. But you just became an event promoter. It's true, I did. But before we get into that, let's talk about how you got involved with Off Road.

[00:14:02.780] - Nate Hurst

Sure. So growing up, my dad had a VW obsession. Funniest thing ever, knowing that I'm a rock crawler, right? But my dad just had Volkswagen's around all the time. Some of my fondest memories are driving his little red bus. He had a red Volkswagen bus, and we would cram the kids in there and drive that thing to now this terrifies me. But he built beds in it, and put up shutters and all that stuff. And we'd drive that thing to freaking Disneyland. I can't imagine that now. I can't believe we did it. But I think most of the reason he loved Volkswagen so much is because he was just a big do it yourselfer and cheap. Everything had to be cheap and had to be something he could do himself. So I think that's why he was into Volkswagen so much. I bet he would still have that bus, except some stupid kid in the Bronco hit him in the snow and wrecked it some years ago. But otherwise, I bet he'd still have it. I keep bugging him to get another one.

[00:15:05.560] - Big Rich Klein

But now he's in the one that I want to work on today. I like that he's into Volkswagen and you keep bugging him?

[00:15:10.310] - Nate Hurst

Yeah, bugging him, get it?

[00:15:13.050] - Big Rich Klein

I started off in a 54 Volkswagen bug.

[00:15:16.490] - Nate Hurst

That's awesome. They had.

[00:15:18.290] - Big Rich Klein

A couple of Beetles over the years.

[00:15:21.000] - Nate Hurst

They just had some fun stories, him and his buddies. They had a story about, I think they went to Wyoming or somewhere, buy a motor for one of them, and they just put it inside of it. Then on the way back on the highway, the motor in it died and they swapped it out on the side of the road. I've always loved that story. It's just so funny. It speaks to the simplicity of them, right? Absolutely. And also how the garbage they were. Also how garbage they were.

[00:15:45.980] - Big Rich Klein

There was a Friday that I was driving from... I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, just south of San Francisco. And for some reason, I was heading up into the city, and I dropped a cylinder in the engine that I had just rebuilt. It only probably had 500 miles on it. I called my dad and I said, Hey, grab my tow bar, get your truck, come pick me up. But on the way. Stop it at BugFormance and pick up a new cylinder. There's one waiting. The cylinder, the piston, and the rod. He came and got me. It was probably four or five o'clock. By eight, nine o'clock that night, I was back out cruising in it.

[00:16:39.510] - Nate Hurst

That's.

[00:16:40.220] - Big Rich Klein

Amazing. Pulling the engine, changing that cylinder, throwing the head back on, firing it up and out cruising.

[00:16:48.680] - Nate Hurst

That's so crazy. Wow. I can't even imagine that if that happened to me and anything else, I'd be calling the dealer or something. You can't even work on anything nowadays.

[00:16:58.660] - Big Rich Klein

Exactly. Too complicated.

[00:17:01.240] - Nate Hurst

His desire to work on stuff himself molded me a little bit. As a younger kid, I didn't want to work on stuff with him. No young kids do usually. But then once I up and turned 16, the most exciting thing ever was getting a driver's license. Kids nowadays are like, I don't know if I even want to get mine. Seems like a lot of responsibility, man. It was the best when I.

[00:17:26.880] - Big Rich Klein

Was a kid.

[00:17:28.950] - Nate Hurst

Freedom. I had a couple of cars and then I got into an Isusu trooper and we tried to offroad in that. Of course, once you get four wheel drive, you just want to go offroad, right? Yes. So we'd go out in the field, we'd slough school and go out in the fields, which is actually right where my house is now, and just go bomb around in the dirt and think we're doing really cool, hard stuff. And then my brother bought an XJ, so this is the beginning of the end for me. He bought a 92 XJ two door, four cylinder, five speed. And it was just the coolest thing ever. It had a three inch lift and 31s. I just loved that Jeep. One day he was like, I'm going to sell this thing. Do you want to buy it? And I'm like, yeah. So scraped together some money, took out a little loan for my dad, and I bought that XJ. And that's where it all really began. Taking off the sway bars and denting stuff and breaking stuff. And that's when I was 18 years old. So I was just finishing up high school.

[00:18:36.440] - Nate Hurst

It was the spring before school ended. And my uncle was like, Hey, you should bring that down to Jeep Safari. And I was like, What? They explained what Easter Jeep Safari Moab is to me. And that was, again, the beginning of an era as well, because I'd never been before. And so me and my buddy left school, went on the Moab and just beat around in that thing. It was open, open, no lockers. And when we got down there, my uncle was an experienced rock runner. And I was like, What trail are you going to do? And he's like, Moab Rim. And I'm like, Okay, let me read it in the book. And I remember reading that Charles A. Wells book, The Moab Trail Guide. It just says the first mile of this still gets my heart pumping or something like that in the description. And I was like, Why are we doing this trail? Can we do an easier one? But no, we went out and it was a blast. I seem to have some pretty good instincts behind the wheel. And that was just ever since then. I've been going down a Jeep Safari and wheeling, so it was great.

[00:19:44.380] - Big Rich Klein

And so have you been every year since?

[00:19:47.260] - Nate Hurst

So the last year I went, they canceled it in 2019, right? No, 2019 was the...

[00:19:53.690] - Big Rich Klein

Was the last year, 20. It was 20.

[00:19:56.280] - Nate Hurst

20, they canceled it. Okay.

[00:19:57.910] - Big Rich Klein

Because that's when COVID first hit.

[00:19:59.860] - Nate Hurst

Yeah. Okay, I have a hard time with the years. So 19 was that I went every year through 19. That was the last year that I went. And ever since then, the COVID thing just killed it for me a little bit. And now the trails aren't like... There's a few really good trails I enjoy down there. But as a whole, if I'm driving the same amount of time, San H all is just a better fit. So it's sad. And I expect I'll go back to Jeep Safari one day. But yeah, I just grew out of it a little bit.

[00:20:30.450] - Big Rich Klein

When you graduate to a JK or a four door and you got the car seats in there for the little ones, that's when you'll start going back to Moab and do the scenic stuff.

[00:20:43.850] - Nate Hurst

Sure. So the last couple of years that I went, I took my oldest kid with me. Once he turned five or something like that. I said he'd come with me. We went down there, we'd camp and stuff. But another reason is because when we started going, we'd cram 10 of our closest friends in a cheap hotel room just to make it affordable. We were all poor kids. And now that's not a thing. There's not a cheap hotel room in Moab. It's probably about the same price as a hotel in Paris or something like that at this point. It's outrageous down there. So that was another reason we straight away from it.

[00:21:21.070] - Big Rich Klein

Sandh all is much better for that.

[00:21:23.800] - Nate Hurst

Yeah. And not having a trailer everywhere is so much better. And then that XJ, I ended up breaking stuff on it. And my uncle had a plasma cutter and I got carried away. And I cut that one in half and tubed it out and put Waggineer 44s on it. It was a blast, man. But eventually when I bought the house, it was like, Well, I got to make the mature decision and sell the XJ. I'd rather have a house. But that's okay. We all get there at some point. So nothing to do.

[00:21:59.620] - Big Rich Klein

But that's but that started your obsession with XJs.

[00:22:03.270] - Nate Hurst

Absolutely.

[00:22:04.160] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah. And how many have you owned?

[00:22:06.750] - Nate Hurst

So I had that one. I had a Comanche that I had this big plan I'm moving to put in 40 and 40 in. So I bought a donor XJ for that one. The Comanche had problems and pissed me off. So I sold that and the donor. And then in 2008, I bought the current one that I have, Snowflake. So I had that thing for 15 years, which is disgusting because XJs usually don't last that long. But as you know, I made some modifications to make it last a little bit longer. But yeah, so I finally bought the 93 in 2008. And yeah, I just had that thing forever. It's ridiculous. I think I probably will have it forever at this point. I don't really ever see selling it.

[00:22:56.260] - Big Rich Klein

Got to have one that your oldest can start driving.

[00:22:58.880] - Nate Hurst

Yeah. Oh, man. He would.

[00:23:00.210] - Big Rich Klein

Freak out. Especially after you get your buggy done.

[00:23:02.790] - Nate Hurst

Yeah.

[00:23:03.150] - Big Rich Klein

Eventually. Because you're building a buggy, correct?

[00:23:05.700] - Nate Hurst

Yes, I have been building a buggy. It's been a few years now. I took a whole year off of working on it while we were moving and getting settled in the new house and stuff. And then I was making some good headway on it over the last few months. But then the work drama hit, and I've just been cooled off on working on it. But the motivation will come back, and I'll get it done. So I'm not worried. Cool. It'll happen.

[00:23:33.150] - Big Rich Klein

I guess plans for the future might be on hold to see what happens work wise, since you're both working for the same company and things are in limbo. You're still working, but you don't know what the new bank is going to do with the old bank, right?

[00:23:56.520] - Nate Hurst

Sure. Yeah, it's definitely a tense time for sure. But I'm still going to go rock crawling, I tell you that. Getting excited to get back out there a little bit for sure. But we started doing that. It's insane to think that I've even known you guys for this long. But I did Delta in 2014 for the first time. That was my first competition. Let me fast forward even further back from that. I went to like, I don't know if it was U Rock or Super Crawl, but I went to one at Rocky Mountain Raceway, and I went to one in Ogden in a stadium place. And I just thought, this is the coolest thing ever. I was fresh out of high school and I had my Jeep. I was just like, I can't believe people do this. It's so amazing. The carnivore was there. Remember that.

[00:24:44.720] - Big Rich Klein

Cool buggy?

[00:24:45.920] - Nate Hurst

That was during those. It was like the heydays. And they had the huge off school in Rocky Mountain Raceway. And I'm just like, I can't believe these guys get to do it. I wish I was that lucky. Fast forward, 10 years or so, I met Ryan and he talked me into Delta and I did that. And then I loved it so much and we won. And so I was like, Let's go to range league, like he said, when you talk to him. And we won range league with you guys. And I was like, This is the coolest thing ever. We're doing it. We're going to be rock crawling competitors.

[00:25:18.830] - Big Rich Klein

You go out, two events and two wins.

[00:25:21.920] - Nate Hurst

Yeah, it really was. I can't slow down now with Idaho X Rocks and won there as well. And then we just got hooked on it big time and finding someone that's as committed to it as you are. And Ryan, right? Once I had a spotter that I knew I could count on, it was like, crap, we're going to do this thing. And we have some ridiculous stories with rock and roll. Some of the stuff we've done is so crazy. And to you, the drives are really short. We talked about that before. You guys drive across the country five times a year or something. But to me, I never would have thought we'd be driving to Goldendale, Washington for a weekend. I never thought we'd drive almost 12 hours each way for, at max, 80 minutes on course. It's the funniest thing ever to break it down that way. But it's also the best. Some of the times we've had have been so amazing and met some ridiculously awesome people in the times that we've been on course and stuff.

[00:26:28.370] - Big Rich Klein

It's wild. It becomes it becomes a way of life.

[00:26:31.940] - Nate Hurst

Yeah.

[00:26:32.510] - Big Rich Klein

Absolutely. It gets into your bloodstream, you might say. It's something you got to do because the people are what really make the sport.

[00:26:46.440] - Nate Hurst

Yeah, for sure. They are.

[00:26:49.170] - Big Rich Klein

It doesn't matter if you're trail wheeling or competing.

[00:26:52.680] - Nate Hurst

Yeah, 100 %. Yeah, trail rolling was always a real blast. Go out there with your friends. And we were always competitive anyways, me and my friends, we'd try to pick a harder line in the person that was before us and show them up a little bit. So the competition aspect was super natural for me. And I still don't get to this day when I ask someone why they don't compete and they're like, Oh, I'm just not competitive. And Ryan and I have always joke like, Oh, you're afraid you're going to lose?

[00:27:20.620] - Big Rich Klein

It's so funny. It's the big fish little pond syndrome. Yeah. Everybody will go out and buy an ex comp buggy. I'm mean, the first time I witnessed that, we were doing an event in Disney, Oklahoma, and I look up and I see Joel Randall's old ARCA car, which was a national champion car. The paint job was one of those that you just knew it. I looked up there and I'm like, Why is Joel here and not competing? What's going on? I found out that Joel had sold the car and it was a local guy in Oklahoma that had bought it. I said, Somebody go up and ask him, once they told me the story, I said, Somebody go ask him why he's not competing. T he guy goes, Oh, I'm not competitive. I don't have a competitive bone in my body. And I'm like, Then why did you buy a car like that? If you're not trying to outdo everybody else, why did you buy a national championship car? It doesn't make sense to me.

[00:28:26.200] - Nate Hurst

I don't get the not competitive thing anyways. How does that bloodline survive? How are you not a competitive person? Day to day, what do you do? How are you not competitive? I don't understand.

[00:28:41.500] - Big Rich Klein

They're not the hunters, they're the gatherers.

[00:28:43.930] - Nate Hurst

Yeah, seriously, you're a gatherer, bro. It's weird. But yeah, it was supernatural for me to just want to compete and want to do ridiculous stuff with my friends is what it comes down to. But we were at Idaho X Rocks this was that first, it was 2015, and that event was awesome. It was so fun. Small event just like Delta, right? And so we're there in Ryan's big TJ on 42s, and he's before me on course, and he goes up over this huge bonus line, and it's a big drop down the backside. And so I'm on course and we have some autonomy at this point, even though I've only been competing for a year. And we're on radio and he's like, Well, are you going around for the bonus line? I was like, Yeah, I'm doing the bonus line. And I drop down over it and I have too much speed and my XJ is too low and crappy and my nose just sticks in. And that's the one that I have the amazing picture of that thing standing straight up on its nose. And of course, it went forward. And at that point, I had a cage that I liked.

[00:29:47.750] - Nate Hurst

It was a hybrid cage, over the body and stuff, and it just crushed it. And to make matters worse, my gas cap, like all my fuel cell popped off and fuel is flying out and Tate and Todd are on the mic saying, get out, get out, get out. And I'm like, oh, man, this is not great. So we scramble out, we get tipped over, take it back to our camp just over across the way and use the high lift jack to bend the cage back up. And we're like, let's get back out on course. So the next course we go on a similar course. You have to go down and you have to go up and over this toward. It's like halfway buried in the ground. And no lie, I go over it and the traction was way better than I thought. And I seriously stuck the bumper in again and endowed it again. And it was just two courses in a row. I endowed the stupid thing. And that's when we're like, hey, we're done now. That's a hard stop, right? And I get it home and it is just twisted every which way.

[00:30:49.610] - Nate Hurst

It is insane. So that's why it looks like it does now. That's why I cut the unibody off behind the driver's seat. That thing was so mingled. And at that point, I was like, man, I don't know. But never at any point in that, the whole point of this is I never thought I'm done with competing. It was just, man, I got to get this thing fixed up so I can go back out. I got to get a fix so I can keep competing. You think I'd be like, if I was smart, I would have been competing stupid. It ruins everything. It just makes you do dumb stuff. But no, it was never that. It was always, yeah, I got to get it fixed and get back out there. Obviously, I did.

[00:31:34.030] - Big Rich Klein

What are some other good stories about competing? Talk about the time coming up to Vernal for the first time. Was that like... Or not Vernal, I mean Rangeley.

[00:31:48.640] - Nate Hurst

Oh, so Rangeley. Going there for the first time, it was so weird. We were so nervous. We were so nervous that it was going to be like people were going to big time us and not want to talk to us or something, we're the new guys. But then it was the exact opposite. We got the instructions off your website or something, how to get there. And Wrigley is just this tiny little town. And we'd go around the backside and we just... The weirdest part, I think, is rolling in at night and everyone's just in their tents or whatever. Some people are out partying, right? And just like, Okay, I guess we're going to camp here. That was a really weird thing back then. So we just camp and we get up in the morning and we're both freaking out. What is we rock going to be like? Is it going to be crazy? Everyone's going to be way too cool for us. But it was the best. We met Brice Santee and Parker and we're hanging out with them and their little blue Samurai. And that was also the beginning of something. We completed against them a ton.

[00:32:47.660] - Nate Hurst

And I think Jim Horn's daughter was competing in a big old YJ or something like that. And then some Toyota guys. And it was just, yeah, we were over the moon. really mean to be there, but we were super nervous. But I still get nervous before courses, so I don't know. That's really changed. But so we're out on course and we on this one course, we're like, okay, when we get to that gate, it's off cam, but we're going to have to power out of it. And we hook up a spotter strap and Ryan's like, go, go, go. And I totally barely hit the throttle and roll. I t rolls over and I'm on my lid. It's totally upside down. And this is the best part of this story is I've never been completely upside down sitting there before. And so I just pull my harness, right? Pull the tab off my lap belt and I drop on my stupid head. Ryan is going to love to hear this story because he still laughs about this one. It's like, What were you doing? I didn't put my hands up. I seriously just dropped on my head.

[00:33:48.010] - Nate Hurst

And I crawl out and he's like, Let's push it over and keep going. And so it's on its lid and we push it and it's downhill. So we push it and it rolls over and lands on the wheels and the wheels nearest us keep going up. And we're like, This thing is going to roll down the hill six times and kill people. But luckily it settled back down. And I was just like, Oh, man, we really didn't plan for that. That was a spur of the moment thing. Let's roll this thing over. But I got back in and we finished that course. So it went on to win that weekend. It was awesome.

[00:34:19.990] - Big Rich Klein

That is great.

[00:34:21.660] - Nate Hurst

Yeah. I swear that the hard times on course, especially if they work out, you're forged in the fire and it just makes you love it more. And we've had plenty of that on course, plenty of hard times. But it's always just been a blast. And then not long after that, Jesse started the Silver State Rock Crawl in Rio. And we were like, you know what? We'd met Jesse. We thought Jesse was the coolest. Never really talked to him much because we're still in this little peons. But we're like, we got to go out there and support Jesse. So this was probably like 2016. And so we take Ryan's TJ out there. It might have been '15 even, I don't remember. We take Ryan's TJ out there. It's like a nine hour drive. And we go on our first course. We don't have a lot of experience with this TJ because we just got it. And we break a stub shaft, and on that same course, we roll it all the way over outside of the course. We didn't even finish. And so it's always broken, right? It also broke the fuel cell. And so we just drove nine hours to get there.

[00:35:30.200] - Nate Hurst

We got there three in the morning and slept and then did that, broke it immediately. And we're like, Cool, I guess we'll go home. So that's one of those stories of 18 hours of driving for less than 10 minutes of trail time, of course time. And it's just like, again, it wasn't ever like, What are we doing? Why are we doing this? It was like, Man, we got to get this solved. Figure out what we need to do better. And that's always been, especially after competitions, we only turn on the radio on the way home. Ryan and I just talk about what we need to improve. And that's weird, right? Even those long drives, we just talk about what we can do better, what we thought went well on the courses and what didn't. And again, that's the competitive spirit.

[00:36:13.910] - Big Rich Klein

Trying to figure out how to make it better.

[00:36:16.530] - Nate Hurst

Yeah, exactly. And then it gets even better. The next year is when it changed to Super Crawl, still out in Reino. We drove out there. This time we took my Jeep and his CJ, and we're just going out there to compete. Up the hill to the courses, his CJ loses the nine inch. Ring and tennis just broke up the dirt hill on the way to the courses before even running a course. Really, I think the point of these stories is Ryan is really resilient or stupid. He's had such bad luck.

[00:36:49.200] - Big Rich Klein

I like the word resilient.

[00:36:51.590] - Nate Hurst

Yeah, I think stupid is better. But yeah, so he broke his CJ. I went on to finish my courses and got second, but a dude complained that my XJ had 60 % body instead of 66 % body to fit in my class. And that guy was conveniently in third place. And it was after the competition had ended, he complained. So he got bumped to second. Jesse hated to do it, but he did it anyways. And I got bumped to third. But I have the big check for $45. So you're hanging up in my garage. And I just scratched out the third place and put second place on it. So as far as I'm concerned, they're in second place. But that dude had 40s, man. He was in a linked Toyota on 40s, and he complained about my XJ, which was on 30s at that point.

[00:37:44.480] - Big Rich Klein

I would have told him to man up and take his panties off and put boxers on and quit whining.

[00:37:53.600] - Nate Hurst

Dude, the best part about that whole situation was after it happened on social media, I put what happened, explain the story. And the amount of people that I didn't even know that came to my aid to be like, That dude sucks. Nate, you're awesome, was really reassuring. And at that point, I was like, Okay, we're making it here in the rock crawling scene. We're getting somewhere. People were realizing that we've got something, whether it's resiliency or whether we're stupid. We've got something and we want to do this. We're passionate about it. So that actually ended on a good note. But I don't know. It's like those stories for the wildest thing. I remember we were about to get on course in Bag dad. The first time we got into bag dad. And like I said, I still get jitters. Before my first course, and Ryan's the same way, he'll try to say he's not, but we're nervous. I'm nervous to get on course, whether I'm spotting or I'm driving. Two different challenges that are both hard and both nerve racking. So we're about to get on course. And this is a cute story. I like this one, Rich.

[00:39:03.750] - Nate Hurst

And I'm just freaking out. I'm telling Ryan on the radio, I was like, Dude, I'm freaking out. What are we going to do? This is when we're in pro mod, right? And I'm just like, What are we going to do? These courses are so hard. And he's like, Dude, remember, we're good at this. And I'm like, Oh, it's like the coolest thing anybody has ever said, right? We'd only been doing it for a couple of years, but we're having decent success. And I'm like, Dude, I'm making a sticker that one day. When I one day have a buggy, I'm making a sticker that says, Remember, we're good at this. It's going to be right where my eyes, right in my eyeliner. Because just even in life, it's important to remember that you're capable. You can do hard things. And so that was probably the nicest thing Ryan's ever said to me on course or before or after a course.

[00:39:52.190] - Big Rich Klein

Because he.

[00:39:52.830] - Nate Hurst

Gets a little hot headed. Dude, he used to get so... I'm glad you brought that up. He used to get so mad on course. Couple of times he'd throw his helmet and just get pissed off, kick his radio off and throw it on the floor. He would get so mad. And I know he mentioned this on your podcast, too, that he said, Wow, this whole not getting mad thing is really working out. But before that, that day that he said that, he was like, Hey, so I decided I'm going to try to just stay cool and stay calm on course and not yell at you. And I was like, Wow, so you're also what I've been doing for all these years to you? Good idea. Wow, what a groundbreaking idea to just chill out. But he really has brought it down quite a bit. He gets mad sometimes. But he passed it to me. couts a little bit or I pout a little bit and it's fine. We're a cute married couple like that, I guess. I don't know. Dude, we have spent so... Because when we travel to events, a lot of times it's just me and Ryan.

[00:40:59.040] - Nate Hurst

And when we were traveling for the 2021 season when we were off in Super Crawl, I realized while I was taking a picture of our food or something like that, taking a cute picture, I realized in a set in my post, I for sure have been on more dates with Ryan than I have with my wife, probably five to one. It is so ridiculous the amount of time we spent together, even just having a meal just the two of us versus me having a meal just with my wife. That never happens. It really is.

[00:41:30.000] - Big Rich Klein

Hopefully, your wife hasn't gotten jealous.

[00:41:33.110] - Nate Hurst

She jokes about that. And then there's other times when he calls me when he's driving home from work, because he lives in Tooele, he drives 45 minutes each way. He'll call me and I'll just drop what I'm doing to go out in the garage and talk to Ryan. And she's just like, Oh, okay, your boyfriend's on the phone. So maybe I shouldn't have said that. Some people are going to raise an eyebrow out of that.

[00:41:53.320] - Big Rich Klein

But you do just... No, they'll understand.

[00:41:56.230] - Nate Hurst

Yeah. That relationship is crazy because we've got each other's lives in our hands out on course and spend so much time together and talking. And it really is like a freaking brotherhood. And that's not even just between me and him. That's all the other competitors, too. The amount of help that the crafty veterans of the sport would give us when we were new. Dude, you wouldn't expect that at all. You'd expect them to have these trade secrets that they're keeping safe. But, dude, Jesse and Dave, they've given us some amazing tips over the years. Even when it's on a course that they've already run, Jesse's like, Hey, go up here and push that rock off with your front tire. And then come back down and do the regular line. And we're like, What? And straight up, it works great. So I don't know. Those relationships with people are something that I'll cherish forever for sure. They've met some amazing people.

[00:42:55.390] - Big Rich Klein

So let's talk about Rock Crawlers for Sale. Isn't that the page you own?

[00:43:03.510] - Nate Hurst

Yeah. So me and a couple of buddies started rockc allersfor sale. Com in 2013. It's hard to imagine how long. But yeah, we started it for every year ago. That's actually what made me break into social media. I lost all my mind strong to not get on Facebook or Instagram or anything. And I wish I wouldn't have. It's just a time waste. But yeah, we started that just to get to give people a way to be able to sell their rock colors. And this is before Facebook Marketplace. So really, your options at that point were like, post it for sale locally. Like, for us, it's KSO classifieds or Craigslist. Or you could post it on pirate 4x4 and have everyone in the world make fun of you and say you're asking too much. And so we were like, Oh, dude.

[00:43:54.870] - Big Rich Klein

All the pores. I could build that same thing for $200.

[00:43:59.180] - Nate Hurst

It must be Tuesday type of posts. And so we were like, You know what? This is something that we see that's wide open in the market and needs to just be captured by someone. So why not us? And so, yeah, the business model was to get people to post their listings on there and pay a small fee to post it. And then we posted social media. And I've been doing that for freaking 10 years, almost. So it's crazy. But it had its real heydays where I was getting tons of traffic, and then it slowed down a little bit. But it's still kicking and making me some pretty passive income. So I'm the only surviving partner in that endeavor, which is fine by me as long as something doesn't go wrong with it.

[00:44:44.610] - Big Rich Klein

I would imagine if you could get Craig Allen as a customer.

[00:44:48.720] - Nate Hurst

Oh, my gosh.

[00:44:49.640] - Big Rich Klein

You'd forever have this. You'd forever have customers because he buys and sells his own car so many times. It's crazy.

[00:44:57.400] - Nate Hurst

He absolutely does. But the only thing that sucks about that is when friends ask me if I can post a list for them, I'm like, Yeah, sure. And I just do it for free anyways. But don't tell anyone, right? Not everyone's going to hear this.

[00:45:11.690] - Big Rich Klein

Don't bet on that.

[00:45:14.180] - Nate Hurst

Yeah. When competitors ask me, especially, I'm just like, Oh, yeah, I'll just post it for you for free. But yeah, they earned it by being competitors and being awesome. That's rock college for sale.

[00:45:28.130] - Big Rich Klein

Cool. Anything else you got going like that, a business that's not the banking?

[00:45:36.950] - Nate Hurst

No, the only other one I have is Delta. That's it. It's our LLC that we started for Delta Classic. But I probably should have more side hustles, but yeah.

[00:45:48.030] - Big Rich Klein

Let's talk about Delta.

[00:45:49.860] - Nate Hurst

Let's do it.

[00:45:51.260] - Big Rich Klein

So we brought in Jake as a partner with W ee Rock. So we were looking at what events we were going to continue to do. Jake was going to be taking all the equipment and stuff, so I was like, Well, I'm not going to buy more equipment to continue doing Delta. Plus physically, I just was like, I'm done. I'm 65 now. It's a lot of hard work. If anybody has never set up an event site for rock crawling, they have no clue. They just show up and it's like, Oh, hey, look at all the codes are up. All the banners are up. All this is up. All that's up. Let's go play. Then it's got it all come down again. After 23 years of that, I was like, Okay, I'm done. Had a couple of people ask about Delta, and you and Ryan were the ones that stood out in our mind that were the best choice to take it over for longevity. When we asked Jake, do you still want to do Delta? It's not part of the series. And he goes, No, I want to stick to just series events. I said, Okay, great.

[00:47:12.180] - Big Rich Klein

So we called you guys and you guys jumped on it and took it over. And so talk about what you guys have done and what the plans are in the future.

[00:47:24.420] - Nate Hurst

Sure. Yeah, we were really excited. Actually, when you finally said to Ryan, Hey, this is yours if you want it, he called me up and told me, Yeah, looks like I'm doing Delta. And I was like, Oh, cool. That'll be really fun for you. Because I didn't know if I was in on it. And he's like, Oh, no, you have to help me. And I was like, All right. And then we were both like, We need someone else that's responsible. And that's where we picked our other buddy, Jeff. We need an adult almost to help us run this deal. So we asked Jeff, Jeff former, to help us. And yeah, it's been quite the experience. Definitely makes me realize how much work goes into a meeting. Obviously, setting courses is just such a disaster. There's so much work. We took two full days to set courses this year, and it's just, I don't know, Delta has been a wild ride. But that being said, we wanted to make sure the event kept going. It's a small town. It's about all they have there, if we're being honest. Obviously, you've been there. It's such a tiny town.

[00:48:32.580] - Nate Hurst

But it's probably the only reason people drive into that town is to come to the rock crawl.

[00:48:37.040] - Big Rich Klein

Or they get stuck on 50 and a half to drive through.

[00:48:39.900] - Nate Hurst

Yeah. They don't have a choice but to pass through there.

[00:48:42.710] - Big Rich Klein

And then when they come through, it's like, What is this?

[00:48:46.180] - Nate Hurst

Yeah. And it's the coolest thing ever, too. That's where Ryan and I both got our start in rock crawling. And it's right off the main road, you see the tube, the ridiculously huge obstacles. And it's just like, What is that? What other county has that in their fairgrounds? All these manmade obstacles. So they really make it easy and attractive for us to want to do it. And that, along with you guys handing over to us, we're just like, You know what? We're going to do this thing. And it just went down last weekend and it was amazing. We had 38 competitors. We had 33 last year. There were 22 the year before. So it's growing consistently. And that was even with all the Idaho guys, the Mercer's, and some of the Teraflex guys couldn't make it because they had graduation stuff for their kids. So it just fell on a bad weekend for some people, which happens. But yeah, we could have easily had 48 people for what it's worth. But it's just a riot. At the end of the first day, Ryan and I both agreed, Let's never do this again. But once the event is over, after the second day, it's just you're showered with people just being like, Hey guys, thanks for putting this on.

[00:50:00.820] - Nate Hurst

This is the coolest. My family had so much fun. And it's just, I don't know, it's very rewarding. Let's put it that way. I'm still a little bit on a high from it, for sure.

[00:50:10.590] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, I mean, it's hard work, but the accolades and the thank yous, and when you get done with it and you see all the smiles on everybody's faces and everybody's having a good time, it keeps you energized.

[00:50:28.560] - Nate Hurst

Also, all the social media posts that are still happening about it that I'm just sharing to our story and stuff, it's just insane. How many people absolutely love the event? People are begging for a second event every year when we're like, You guys are trying to kill us.

[00:50:44.590] - Big Rich Klein

You could do Labor Day weekend, right?

[00:50:47.630] - Nate Hurst

I don't want to do that because it's right before Nationals, another big event. Still got to make it to that one. So we've discussed maybe doing something in October, but we've also wondered about doing a training style event to take people out there and just show them some basic rock growing stuff. I think that would actually go really well. But yeah, it's a special event. And I have to say, your granddaughter, Payton, she was spotting for.

[00:51:15.280] - Big Rich Klein

Little Rich.

[00:51:15.850] - Nate Hurst

And I was doing... He was running legends courses, and she was spotting. And she's the cutest thing ever. It was so hilarious. She was holding her hands next to each other. He's like, How far away am I from the codes? And I was judging right there. And she held her hands together next to each other. And she held them up. She's like, Two of my tiny hands. That's how far away from the cone you are. And I was just dying as a father with a daughter, especially. I'm just like, That is so adorable. And then on another course with me, he's like, Where's the cone at? And she held her hands right up in the air like we normally do. And then she padded the cone three or four times. The cone's right here. And I'm like, Oh, my gosh. Because obviously, you're not supposed to touch the cone, right? There's no way I'm calling that penalty on her. I was just laughing my head off. And I took it out after. But it was so adorable watching her spot. And he is effectively walking her through what to do. She didn't do much. Let's put it that way.

[00:52:13.810] - Nate Hurst

Except for being cute and dancing around on course. He was saying, Okay, now go to the other side and tell her where that cone is. It was so fun. And we actually have a couple of teams out there that are... We have another father and son team, the guys from Careflex. Ben, he's the CEO or President or whatever of Careflex. His son, T. Anker, spots for him, and then they swap and the other one drives. And watching them on course is hilarious. Just huge smiles. And they're driving TJs on 40s with manual transmissions. And it's just, yeah, I respect that he's 16 years old, right? And he's just going out there and beating on his TGA. It's just cool. The family aspect of Delta is one of the things that's always been attractive to me. It just brings out people that normally wouldn't compete. And we don't know why that is because I've always obviously been an advocate of people going to Le Rock events. But for some reason, they just think, just like we did when we started, like, Oh, it's too big time.

[00:53:15.100] - Big Rich Klein

And it's like, No, I'm going to come out. It's going to be too hard. I hear that all across the country.

[00:53:20.160] - Nate Hurst

Yeah, it's crazy.

[00:53:21.930] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, and it's not. That's why we started the sportsman classes and have the tamer obstacles. The pro courses, I tell people the first time they come out, they'll call and they'll say, Well, yeah, I want to come out and do the pro courses. I'm like, What are you driving? I'm driving a Toyota pickup truck. It's linked, though. It's full body. I'm like, You really want to try the other ones first? Yeah, absolutely. First time Uriel came out with the undertakers. It was him and Jeremy Hammur, and a couple of others. I just remembered those two specifically. And I had gotten called by Andrew McLoughlin and said, Hey, we're with the undertakers. We're the most extreme hardcore rock crawling club in America.

[00:54:13.440] - Nate Hurst

Arizona guys, right?

[00:54:14.570] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, the Arizona guys. And we want to come out and compete at Wirok, but we don't want to be on the easy courses. We want to be on the hard stuff because that's all we drive is real hard stuff. And I said, Well, tell you what? Come out and run the sportsman classes on day one. Then if you guys are not happy with the courses and you think they're too easy, we'll move your group over to the big courses, the A courses, and then you can give it a try. And after that first day, I asked them, I said, So where do you guys want to run tomorrow? Oh, we'll stay on the C courses, because it's still extremely difficult wheeling.

[00:54:56.460] - Nate Hurst

Yeah, that's funny. Those are some names I haven't thought about for a while. Yeah, the Arizona guys. No one's more hardcore than Arizona guys. Just ask the Arizona guy.

[00:55:05.380] - Big Rich Klein

Right. Yeah. I got to say, I love them all, though.

[00:55:10.430] - Nate Hurst

Oh, yeah, for sure. I absolutely do, too. We've had some rocky times there's other guys in sports, you can see with Arizona guys and sports concier. They got sick of losing to us. They really know how to put it. They're going to love that. They're going to love hearing that from me.

[00:55:24.300] - Big Rich Klein

Then they need to come back out and whip on you.

[00:55:27.310] - Nate Hurst

Yeah. They're going to be throwing their phones when they hear that when they listen to the podcast. I really wish that we could break down that stigma, that it's too hard, that we rock too serious because, dude, we've had so much fun on courses just laughing our heads off and judging each other. Oh, my gosh, the amount of advice I've given people while I'm judging, I'm basically spotting them at this point or holding the banner out of their way so they can turn. It's not too hard. It's not too serious. Everyone should definitely do it. There should be no doubts. But did you see any of my posts about people turning around on top of the tube in Delta?

[00:56:08.180] - Big Rich Klein

I saw the video of Dave Wang doing it.

[00:56:12.780] - Nate Hurst

It was so crazy. It really is one of those things that a few years ago, I never would have even thought of that. We didn't. We hadn't thought of it. But apparently Dave was telling Rich, since Louis and Rich was spottying for him, telling him, I don't like this. This doesn't feel good. Rich essentially told him to shut up and drive, pretty much. And as you know, with manmade courses, coming up with stuff for people to do year after year after year gets challenging. But two years, we've had good luck with it. We've made courses that were challenging. Too challenging for some people. A couple of people, a couple of people, a couple of people.

[00:56:54.940] - Big Rich Klein

Well, you know what? You can have it on flat ground and you put codes out there and people will figure out how to roll.

[00:57:02.510] - Nate Hurst

Yeah, that's for sure. Hate to see it happen, but on the flip side, there are people out there having the time of their lives. We had people that have been competing there for 10 years. This dude Jeremy, finally got the win. But while he's on course, when I'm clear all the way across the grounds, I hear him go over a bonus obstacle and everyone in the crowd is just screaming. It's so cool to see stuff happen for people and how thrilled they are about securing a win or finishing a course. That's why we do it. It is supposed to be fun and we're supposed to enjoy it. But Delta has been quite the endeavor that I don't know. I don't see when it's coming to an end at this point.

[00:57:51.590] - Big Rich Klein

Well, that's good to hear. So what's the website?

[00:57:56.520] - Nate Hurst

Delta classic. Com. And then on Instagram, it's the same thing. Delta classic rackdraw, same with Facebook. I really encourage people to ask questions if they have them because I'm the one that's in charge of all the social media. And so when they ask questions, I get right back to them. And I think that's gotten a lot of people involved just because it's easy to get a hold of them. Absolutely.

[00:58:21.950] - Big Rich Klein

It's crazy. Communication is key.

[00:58:24.440] - Nate Hurst

Yeah, for sure.

[00:58:26.790] - Big Rich Klein

Well, excellent. I can't think of anything else that we've missed. Is there anything that you want to hit on?

[00:58:38.750] - Nate Hurst

Let me see. Let me look at what I have written down. Oh, just to be a rockcrawler's wife, that's one thing I can't even imagine.

[00:58:48.010] - Big Rich Klein

Well, let's talk about that.

[00:58:49.680] - Nate Hurst

I have to give credit to my wife for sure. I don't know if she's going to listen, but I have to give credit to her because just being gone, my vacation days, I got to have a signed vacation days and hours have been used for rock crawling so much over the course of the last several years that it takes a very understanding life to put up with that. And the dates of We Rock events, those are just blacked out on our calendar. Like, Yeah, sorry, we're not scheduling anything that weekend. The amount of stuff she's wanted to make that were ruined by a We Rock event, it's insane. But she's.

[00:59:27.140] - Big Rich Klein

Always been supportive. I'm the one that's on the fecal list.

[00:59:33.340] - Nate Hurst

Yeah, I could see that maybe. And you know, I don't know, you've probably heard this too, and you know it, but I don't know how you deserve Shelly, right? Shelly's awesome. You don't deserve her. So you're in good company here. We both definitely don't deserve our awesome lives. But yeah, it's such a commitment, big time. And when 2021 rolled around, I told her I was saving up my vacation for something. She thought I meant a surprise vacation or something like that, like going on a cruise. No, what I meant was I was saving up to do super crawl and we rock. So that was a little bit of a miscommunication that got me in trouble. But that was the craziest year ever. I think we did 11 events that year, and that was all on Ryan because I wasn't competing. I took the year off, and it just felt like every two weeks we were doing rock crawling. It was insane.

[01:00:29.850] - Big Rich Klein

I'm probably going to get myself in trouble and all the rock crawlers in trouble with their wives. There's a guy I know that told me one time that I said, I never see your wife at the events. Is she cool with it? And he goes, Oh, yeah. She loves me buying parts and going to events. And I said, Why is that? And he goes, Because the same amount of money that I spend on parts, she gets to spend on whatever she wants. And the amount of time that I get to go to events, we have to plan around vacations as well so that we can do what she wants to do.

[01:01:08.400] - Nate Hurst

Yeah.

[01:01:09.100] - Big Rich Klein

And I'm like, Wow, you better not tell anybody else that.

[01:01:13.710] - Nate Hurst

Nobody else's wives better find out that's an agreement they can make.

[01:01:17.740] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, exactly.

[01:01:20.660] - Nate Hurst

It really does take quite a bit of education because when we're not at events, we're working on our rigs. That's the unfortunate is that reality, we're working on our rigs. But yeah, my wife's really understanding about it. And when I'm home, I try to be really present and I'm with my kids all the time. So I think that really helps. But yeah, I can't imagine it not being that way either. Well, that's one of the... Supportive wife.

[01:01:44.810] - Big Rich Klein

That's one of the things that I thought was really important about you guys taking over Delta was that we took it over because we didn't want to see it go away. But that's the event that needed that personal attention of somebody that lives in the area so that they could be talking to potential sponsors and wheelers and everybody else that might be coming to the event on almost a daily basis. And knowing that Ryan was in the business and that you guys were in that area and you guys had been wheeling for years, it just made sense.

[01:02:25.800] - Nate Hurst

Yeah. And it's a quick two hour trip for us. For the couple of weeks before the event, we'd go down on Saturday or Sunday morning and spend all day down there setting up course and then burn home and be home for dinner. So yeah, it definitely absolutely helps for sure. And just people identify well with people that are local to it, right? Or so it definitely helps. But yeah, we really appreciate the opportunity to kick over the event. So I'm glad you guys picked Ryan and then Ryan picked me to help him.

[01:02:59.910] - Big Rich Klein

Right. Well, I knew that you were going to come along with Ryan. Yeah. Ryan wasn't in the mindset. You don't go out and buy a left handed glove. You buy a pair of gloves. And that's what we were looking at is you guys being that pair of gloves.

[01:03:14.690] - Nate Hurst

Yeah, we are quite the pair, that's for sure.

[01:03:18.870] - Big Rich Klein

Well, Nate, I want to say thank you so much for coming out and spending some time and talking to us about your life, about the stories that you've told, and about Delta. And everybody, remember Delta Classic Rock Crawl is going to stick around and that they should talk to you on social media and get involved.

[01:03:41.360] - Nate Hurst

100 %. Yeah. I just want to say thanks for all that you've done over the last 20 some years. Keep the sport alive. There were some dark times, some not good attendance, and you guys kept it alive. And thank goodness for your awesome wife, Shelly, right? Yeah. To help keep you on the path to keep.

[01:04:00.270] - Big Rich Klein

It alive.

[01:04:01.010] - Nate Hurst

Yeah, because like I said, she's behind it.

[01:04:03.940] - Big Rich Klein

Like I said for years, in 2009, that was going to be my last year. I just looked at it like, you know what? The economy sucked. The attendance was sucking. Trying to get sponsors to help or marketing partners to help to make it happen just sucked. And it was way too much work. And there was way too many personal problems that I was going through at the time. And it was just like, I give up. I'm done. And she was like, No, I'm retiring. I want to keep this going because I don't want you to go to get a regular job. Let's go out and do this full-time and let's figure out a way to do it. And with her help, we were able to do that. And I'm glad it happened.

[01:04:51.670] - Nate Hurst

Yeah, thank goodness for that. My life would be very different in a lot of lives. So we appreciate you guys for sure, big.

[01:04:57.880] - Big Rich Klein

All right. Well, Nate, thank you so much. And again, it's been a pleasure knowing you and that relationship will continue on.

[01:05:08.680] - Nate Hurst

Thanks, big.

[01:05:09.900] - Big Rich Klein

All right. Take care.

[01:05:11.010] - Nate Hurst

Bye. See you later. Bye.

[01:05:13.100] - Big Rich Klein

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 a Facebook message, and let me know any ideas that you have, or if there's anybody that you have that you would 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.