Community Builder Cody Folsom on Episode 323

Cody Folsom grew up bouncing between Colorado towns and Texas, attending over 10 schools while working alongside his father in automotive shops. He was introduced to rock crawling through Jason Feuilly and Jimmy's 4x4, learning the philosophy that completing obstacles mattered more than keeping vehicles pristine—a shock after his dad's show-and-shine approach to cars.

From Spotting to Racing

Cody became a renowned spotter for rock crawling competitions, spotting for various drivers, including Feuilly and Rick Dermo. He transitioned into racing through Dirt Riot, building a Jeep Cherokee called "Raz Spaz" that launched his interest in going faster. He later moved into Ultra 4 racing with a Comanche and became co-driver and mechanic for Shane Chiddix, learning shock tuning and high-performance vehicle dynamics in the process.

Building Dolores: Outfitters & Auto Shop

After a family crisis brought him back to Colorado, Cody and his partner, Katie, transformed a struggling mercantile into a thriving outdoor outfitters—offering rental Jeeps, side-by-sides, kayaks, handmade food, and recovery gear. Recently, they opened Kodiak Automotive next door. Cody now aims to bring manufacturing jobs back to his community through product design, particularly bumper assemblies that can be fabricated and assembled locally.

Cody credits Big Rich and the off-road community for shaping his life, emphasizing how the sport created family bonds beyond competition.

Transcript

[00:00:04.020] 

Welcome to Conversations with Big Rich. This is an interview-style podcast. Those interviewed are all involved in the off-road industry. Being involved, like all 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 off-road. We their personal history, struggles, successes, and reboots. We dive into what drives them to stay active in off-road. We all hope to shed some light on how to find a path into this world that we live and love and call off-road.

[00:00:46.040] 

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.

[00:01:13.830] - Big Rich Klein

Growing up as a rough-and-tumble kid, my next guest played hard and competed full out. From dirt bikes to rock crawling to rock racing, my guest has no quit in him. But at the same time, he is caring, passionate, and just plain nice. My guest is Cody Folsom. Good morning, Cody Folsom. It's so good to have you on the podcast. Last time I saw you was Easter Jeep, and that was pretty cool. Saw some stuff that you're doing now. Can't wait to talk about that, but I also want to hit the history. So thanks for coming on.

[00:01:52.900] - Cody Folsom

Yeah, glad to be on. I feel pretty lucky getting asked to come out and share what I've done in the past and that sort of thing with you and everyone else that listens. Well, cool.

[00:02:02.650] - Big Rich Klein

So let's get started where I start with everybody. That first question, the easiest one for me to answer and should be the easiest for me to ask and you to answer, um, is where were you born and raised?

[00:02:16.990] - Cody Folsom

I was born in Durango, Colorado, and I was raised all over Southwest Colorado. I, uh, bounced between 3 different towns growing up. Rico was the high point for me. I loved Rico growing up there. But Durango, Colorado was our home base.

[00:02:33.300] - Big Rich Klein

Okay. And Durango is kind of touristy. Yeah. To say the least. And how long were you in Durango? Or have you been bouncing back and forth between Durango, Rico, Cortez, or not Cortez, but you're actually in—

[00:02:56.210] - Cody Folsom

I'm up in Dolores. Dolores, that's right, Dolores. And, you know, so for me, I have kind of a colorful history of, of moving quite a bit as a kid. A lot of folks think when they first talk to me that I'm military, and it just was really that my family was never really committed to staying in one place very long, and they bounced us a lot back and forth between two households. So growing up, I started in Durango, and we went so far as, uh, Cedar City, Las Vegas, building homes. We went to Lake Tahoe and lived there for years, uh, just as a young baby. They kind of went all over the place, and then they each decided to go their own separate ways. And because of that, I couldn't stand being without either one of them, and I'd bounce back and forth about every school year. So in the end I went to about 10 or 11 different schools, but I primarily grew up in Durango, Rico, Dolores, and I know this area like the back of my hand. I mean, you could, you could drop me in the woods and I know which way I'm going, and I know how to get out of this area.

[00:03:59.680] - Cody Folsom

It's, it's always felt like home. My family has 7 generations on the Telluride side and about 6 on the Durango side, homesteaders and miners that I, I kind of think is, is pretty neat. And sometimes I'll go and look back on that stuff. It's quite a bit of fun to share. But we have a, a small store here in Dolores. It's a mercantile, it's an outdoor store, it's a gas station, it's come get your hunting licenses. And one of the things that's really fun for me is that when folks come in from out of town, I get the opportunity to share about the area that I grew up loving so much with them. And, uh, I, I really enjoy that store because of that reason and because of my, my— how much I like this area. Um, but yeah, growing up, I was, I was kind of all over the board. I mean, I even lived down in San Antonio. I lived in Temple, Texas. I, I lived all over the place. And I think part of that was really good. It gave me the ability to be a little bit more articulate and open up to conversation, which, as you know, I'm very outgoing and very loud spoken.

[00:05:05.990] - Cody Folsom

And I think, I think that has a lot to do with that.

[00:05:09.370] - Big Rich Klein

I have a question. Where do you think you spent your most informative years, say those, those early from like, I consider from like 6 to 12?

[00:05:23.980] - Cody Folsom

Oh boy. You know, at that time, I was growing up between Dolores and Rico. And, uh, yeah, I mean, my dad, he, he'd paint cars for a living, he'd build houses, he'd do whatever he could do to get his hands on some work for us. And I, at that time, but 9, 10 years old, would enjoy coming home after school and he'd be in the shop painting a car, pulling a motor, doing who knows what. He, he even had monster trucks. He was, he was one of the fellows in the area that had big monster trucks, and I mean like Bigfoot type stuff. And so I'd come home after the end of the school day, and man, I couldn't wait to get my homework done and get in that shop and go play with him and work on a car. And, you know, he was a really good painter back in the day. He could paint a car like no one else. And I really enjoyed doing that. It was, it was probably where I got my passion for cars and got my passion for for building hot rods and that sort of thing. But his, his perspective of off-roading was completely different than what you guys had introduced me to.

[00:06:36.040] - Cody Folsom

And I mean that in the nicest facet, but it is, it is a lot different when you're taking a truck that you're armor-rolling and spit-shining and waxing, and now all of a sudden you're driving through the rocks and you're caving in rocker panels and you're pushing indoors and you don't flinch, you know, it's no big deal. It's, uh, making the truck look like a raisin is okay. Yeah, those, those that—

[00:06:58.850] - Big Rich Klein

I know a few guys, um, that their rigs, especially when they, you know, when they first build them, they are just pristine. Um, you know, they got the, the best, you know, looking tow vehicle, the best looking trailer. The best looking rig, and then when they scratch them for the first time out rock crawling or racing, you know, it's like a panic attack. And they don't last— they don't typically last very long. Now there's the guys that, that enjoy that part of taking those body panels and fixing them back up and stripping them down and painting them again and you know, making the rig always look nice. But then there's others that are just, you know, it's just so cringeworthy for them to, you know, get any kind of scratch, even if it's a Rocky Mountain pinstripe. Yeah. Yep. I don't, I don't understand that when they come out rock crawling and, uh, and that's a surprise to them. It's, uh, it amazes me.

[00:08:05.570] - Cody Folsom

That's the dynamic, man, that I— the very first dynamic that I ran into with this sport and the friends that I had at that time, Jason. And Jason was my, my dermo, my, my gersch, you know. We both rock crawled a lot and had a blast doing it. And they took me along to the events to promote the shop they were working for, which is of course Jimmy's 4x4. And that dynamic, going out into the rocks and tearing something up, and it wasn't a big deal because it was more about being able to complete the obstacle than it was about show and shine. That blew my mind. And after a while, I kind of got used to it. I, I remember one time I, I had, uh, I was trying to do something nice for Jason, and we were down there in Farmington going to college, and, uh, he parked his truck at the, uh, property that I was staying at. And I thought, man, I'll clean this truck up and armor all the tires. Oh no. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. So he came back, his truck was Armor All'd and cleaned up, and he's like, what have you done?

[00:09:13.980] - Cody Folsom

I was like, what do you mean, buddy? I'm hooking you up, you know. We're trying to make this thing look nice, you know. And he shook his head, and next thing you know, I'm riding up and down Chokecherry in Farmington, and he's telling me, you know, this is why we don't put oil on our tires, and that sort of thing. So it was, it was completely unique. And I would say that there's two stages for me. The first stage was auto body restoration with monster trucks and big tires and lift kits. And I mean redneck stuff, you know, like they would do whatever they could to get it to be as tall as they could. A Louisiana lift kit, if you would. Right. A good old ladder frame, kind of, you know, getting it as high in the sky as they could. And then we went— I went to a group of people that were very focused on off-road stability and, and, you know, off-road ability, and it didn't matter about how it looked. And it was, it was really shocking. It was, it was a lot of fun too.

[00:10:08.730] - Big Rich Klein

So let's, let's get back to the, the car, the, the rock crawling and off-road, but let's explore your early life a little bit more. Um, growing up in that Dolores Rico area, you know, you, you said that you, you know that area Um, you know, pretty much every little trail, rock, tree, canyon. Yeah, stream, all that. Um, how did, how did you do that? Was it, was it just something that, you know, as a family you went out, or was it just self-exploring?

[00:10:44.020] - Cody Folsom

You know, actually, as a family, we didn't go out much, and I'd have to give credit to my, my first family, my, my family that I married into, and then we later separated, but I have to give credit to them for getting me out and, and getting me to see things. Like, for instance, I'd never been up into the La Platas. And to answer more directly about what you're saying, I spent a lot of time working as a kid. I spent a lot of time in the shop working or building houses or, you know, just generally working. Now, that doesn't mean that I didn't have fun. I, I had a dirt bike and I had horses and we had cows and we had all kinds of things that a kid, I feel like, would really should like to have. It was a blast. But, uh, we spent a lot of time working big. I mean, we went to Telluride and worked and built houses. We built houses in Rico, built houses in Durango. And if we couldn't build houses, we're fixing cars and painting cars for a living. And because of that, I knew of the areas.

[00:11:41.910] - Cody Folsom

My dad took me out hunting in a few places around Rico because that's what he really was familiar with. But I didn't get a chance to explore until probably the last 20 years of this area. And in the last 20 years, it's mostly been just me out kind of tooling around and learning the area while I'm hunting and, and getting familiar with it and realizing that I can share this area with other people. And, uh, because of that, I've realized I can start kind of, I don't know, gathering this information up and keeping it in my noggin so I can share it with others.

[00:12:15.060] - Big Rich Klein

Cool. What about, what about school as you were growing up? Was it, was it important to you? Was it important to, to your parental units? Was it, was it, you know, or were you one of those that, you know, were you a good student, or were you one of those that always looking out the window?

[00:12:36.890] - Cody Folsom

You know, my parents were both so different. My mom she was a very much so disciplined, regimented, rule-following type that was also very strong-willed. And she still to this day has a sign in her house that says, "Don't let the tame ones tell you how to live." And so it's, it's funny because she and her dad, uh, being from Italy, her mom being Spanish— Spain, Spanish, uh, you know, they, they were immigrants and stuff. And, and It's interesting looking at the difference now that you ask that between the two of them, because my dad, he was more the work hard, play even harder type. And, uh, he would always have toys of some sort, you know, jet boat or a dirt bike or something like that. And so for me, the dynamic between the two of them made it hard to stay consistently focused in school. Um, I did not graduate with a very high GPA at all. I think the guidance counselor had to kind of eke me through. Um, and it wasn't for a lack of understanding, it was just a lack of being present in school. I was always out doing something, whether it was working or playing with one of the two of them.

[00:13:52.980] - Cody Folsom

Even after they separated and went to Texas and went to Colorado, they both found ways to make sure that we had a really good I would say extracurricular activities and, and hobbies and things of that nature that they supported. And, uh, yeah, they're hard on us as kids, they're tough on us, but, uh, they, they taught me so much more than school did that I can't tell you, Big Rich, how much I appreciate my parents. And, uh, they, they really challenged me as a kid growing up. So yeah, it's to speak specifically and say that school had a massive influence on my life. I, I would say some. Um, and then getting into college, I had this idea that I was gonna become a civil engineer and got into college, really did like that quite a bit, but I just didn't have enough time to dedicate to it because we got kind of married at a young age the first time around, and it was overwhelming. I couldn't do as much as I wanted to do, so I ended up going back to work in the construction and stayed at it for a good while until I was able to buy a house.

[00:14:59.230] - Cody Folsom

Um, but yeah, that— I really wished I could have finished civil engineering, and today that would come in so useful for the, uh, the shop projects that I mess with. I love using CAD. Okay, the—

[00:15:17.020] - Big Rich Klein

obviously then with moving around and spending a lot of time outdoors and doing a lot of, you know, things with the parental units. Is it— you probably didn't play much sports in school?

[00:15:34.210] - Cody Folsom

Actually, I got that opportunity when I went to San Antonio with mom and Temple, Texas too. So mom, she went down there and found herself a good job in mortgage and finance at USAA. And, uh, she managed to provide a household and, and a stable environment for us. And I, I got to say, you know, a single mom pulling that off and that sort of thing, she was a, she was a badass. And, uh, she, she'd get us to football, she'd get us to baseball. When heck, she stopped in Gallup, and we lived there in Gallup for a few years, which was— that was a tough community. That was a real tough community. But, uh, she, she found a way to get me to baseball. I had a baseball coach named Archie Baca, and he actually has a restaurant there to this day. Good restaurant. But, uh, yeah, I always had sports with Mom, and that was a blast because it was her way of trying to get us into the environment that we were getting back home in Colorado when we're up at Dad's. And for me, I got to see both sides of it, you know.

[00:16:32.220] - Cody Folsom

I gotta be out on a horse riding horseback in the woods up here, or dirt bikes, or, you know, jeeping around or something like that, all the way to Mom's place where you went into the inner city. You lived in town in a, in a subdivision and had a small fenced yard and played sports and did those normal, you know, urban activities. So for me, I got to see a huge, huge difference between two different living styles, and I really actually did enjoy taking advantage of both and seeing both and then being able to go to the other when I wanted.

[00:17:06.750] - Big Rich Klein

Nice. And going back and forth, was it, uh, it sounds like it was like a year here, a year there type thing. Um, was it tough to, to reassimilate friendship-wise when you got into the— changed the communities?

[00:17:24.120] - Cody Folsom

It, it was, uh, never hard to make friends, you know. It was, it was always easy to make friends. The one thing that I, I do I look back at and, and have some thoughts about is that you don't have someone— and this is ironic to say speaking to you because you didn't have someone that you went to school with from elementary till now, but ironically I did. And, and, and so even though I went to 11 schools from Telluride to San Antonio— I'm talking Telluride, Dolores Rico, Cortez— it was, I mean, all the way down to Texas. I still run into people these days that I went to school with and they say, Cody, is that you? Like, uh, which school and where from? So I must have been making some sort of impression. I don't know if it was good or bad, but, but, uh, I, I still have people that remember me. And the problem for me is I don't remember all of them. And, and so It sometimes is a little sad because I'd like to have someone that I've known since elementary, but at the same token, there are so many people like you and other members of, of different chapters of what I've done so far that it's a lot of fun to be able to go back and forth between them.

[00:18:40.750] - Cody Folsom

So it's unique for sure, right?

[00:18:45.010] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, I'd have to say that with the lifespan that I've had that the— which is getting longer and longer every day, of course. You know, I have a few friends from like my school years, and— but most of my friendships are all from the rock crawling. Yep. You know, and are based around the off-road. And yeah, what's nice about that for me is that They're, they're really diverse in where everybody comes from and their backgrounds and their experiences. And being able to share that has been, has been awesome for me. Even though I may have— I don't get to see everybody very, very often, you know, I, I feel like I have great friendships with people. You know, I can step back into a room with them and it's like, you know, it's, it's really like a family reunion. And off-road has been able to do that to me, um, which I, I'm, you know, that's pretty mutual.

[00:19:56.600] - Cody Folsom

I would say that's pretty mutual.

[00:19:58.660] - Big Rich Klein

This, this year, this summer, uh, end of summer, I've got my 50th high school graduation get-together. And, uh, it's like, you know, that I know that the class was a lot bigger 50 years ago than it— than what's going to show up at this, this, uh, this gathering. Um, it'll be interesting to see, you know, and listen to everybody's life experiences. Luckily, I get to experience some of that with Facebook and having met up with people, you know, since then. On occasion, but, you know, those very, very few and far between are the people from high school that I, that I really associate with anymore. So it'll be interesting to see it. And that's, that's kind of what you're saying, is that, you know, you, you've been to all these different places and you're, you know, you've made friendships, but there's probably few and far between of really hardcore solid, you know, long-lasting ones.

[00:21:07.660] - Cody Folsom

Yeah, yeah, especially from the younger years. Now in more recent times, I would say in the last 20 years, I've got lots of folks that are here and a big part of my life and, and love and support what we're doing as a family and a group here in Dolores. And I'm absolutely grateful for those folks that are here day in and day out. I mean, and it's funny because, you know, sometimes you think that family is your, your biggest support, but really community is, is the biggest thing these days. I, I've, I've seen a lot of, you know, changes like you're saying where you, you don't have the same friends as you used to have, whether it's because Father Time's taken effect or because of a different path or hobby. But the last 20 years up in this area, bouncing back and forth between the different things, I've had a lot of folks that they come into the store because they know me. They come into the store because they know that I, I stand for something and that they appreciate that and they respect it. And I couldn't be more grateful for the people that come by and, and support us because of the interactions they've had with me.

[00:22:15.320] - Cody Folsom

Um, I, I am very lucky because of that. I feel very blessed because of that. And, and these days, yeah, like I said, I didn't, uh I still don't have a friend from Indian Hills Elementary in Gallup, New Mexico, but, you know, that's, uh, that's a lot different now. I got, I got a new group, so.

[00:22:32.660] - Big Rich Klein

Right. So all of that life experiences, um, set you up for where you're at today. We'll get into that a little bit later, but you've had some, uh, I know that like You, you trail ride motorcycles, or you did. Um, oh yeah. And you had a pretty hellacious wreck that you thought maybe you shouldn't have survived, but somehow will and determination. Um, yeah. Do you still go out like that? Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

[00:23:10.630] - Cody Folsom

You want to talk about that wreck? You know There's parts of this that people take and appreciate different ways. And one of the things that I'll preface this with is that I had an experience after I crashed that was really spiritual, and I didn't realize what was happening. And so that being said, that's a reference to my buddy Shane. He likes saying that. He, uh, I was up in the woods for a dirt bike ride after I had an argument with a family member, and that was a good thing. I always had physical something, go do something, you know. And if you just sat there and festered, it got worse. I, I'd go for a ride or something like that, you know, cool off and, and then come back and, you know, kind of sort things out and come to a compromise. And then, and that's part of it, you know. But went for this particular ride, and I was about 9 miles up above Dolores, and Uh, somebody had drug a rock onto the trail in a place that I was not expecting there to be a giant rock. Um, and I was clipping along pretty good.

[00:24:17.150] - Cody Folsom

There's a spot where you can go through the woods and hit this, uh, basically a water bar and kind of jump up on top of a little bit of a road or a little bit of a ridge. Well, when I hit the water bar and I was flying up on top of the ridge to land up on top of it there was a rock put in the place that I normally land. That rock flicked me off the side of the trail and into a pile of rocks. And I remember waking up and trying to yell, and I had no voice. I couldn't yell because my lung was collapsed. And, uh, and I thought, what in the world? So I kind of fell back down and saw the clouds like they were moving on time-lapse, man. It was wild. And I had this vision. This vision was this silhouetted figure And she came down and said, get off your ass, get on your bike, ride home, and then move to California. And I was shocked. I was like, what? Move to California? Do you know the tax rate out there? Are you nuts? It's expensive. And I got on the bike, and the bike had a flat rear tire, bent handlebars, the subframe was tweaked, and I'm, I'm aspirating blood.

[00:25:26.630] - Cody Folsom

I mean, I'm, I'm I'm in no condition and I'm just in shock and I'm seeing spots that look like Star Wars, man. It's just like a space tunnel. And for whatever reason, I got on that bike. It was a KX450F. It was a— it was a ripper. And I kickstarted that bike and it started. And so I, I knew I was in trouble. I got on that bike and rode 9 miles back down to Dolores. And when I did, I rode by my favorite sheriff's house, Sheriff Nowlin. And Nowlin called in his deputies because I was flying when I went by his house. And, uh, they met me down in town at my place in town in Dolores. And I was laying on the ground when they found me. The bike was leaned up against my house, and they ended up scooping me up, throwing me in the ambulance, flight for lifeing me to Denver. And I sat in that Denver hospital for a week or two, and, uh, I had lots of friends and family that came and supported and, and were wonderful to me and sent flowers. And laying there though, I had realized it was a pretty bad crash.

[00:26:34.910] - Cody Folsom

I'd broken my ribs in about 6 places in the front and about 5 places in the back. I had lacerated my liver open. I'd collapsed my right lung. I had broken a portion of my hand and really jacked up my collarbone. There were numerous other things that were hurt, you know, mostly the rest of it would grow back. But, uh, sat there in that hospital, had family there that supported me and, and came up and were kind and stuff. And, and I remember, uh, Josh Jackson and, and, and others, uh, oh God. I can't remember, uh, he's out of Arizona. He's got a barbecue deal, uh, gosh darn it, JK Barbecue, I believe it is. Oh, Justin Keilman. Yeah, yeah, they, they all sent me like coloring books and, and the rock crawling community, I mean, they, they were really cool. They sent coloring books and all kinds of funny things and kind of cheered me right up and stuff. And then, uh, Josh Jackson actually loaned me It was like this Audi, this older Audi. And, uh, me and my partner at the time, we drove ourselves back. I checked myself out of the hospital early and drove myself back to Dolores, um, got her and I back home, and, and I went back to my place respectively and, and, uh, rested there for about a week.

[00:28:01.060] - Cody Folsom

And next thing you know, Josh Jackson's calling me and saying, hey Cody, uh, we got Dirt Riot Nationals coming up in Texas. Are you coming? I'm like, dude, you know, I've got like 6 broken ribs and I'm laying on the couch tender. Like, my liver was just all tore up. I, I'm not coming. And he goes, well, you got my car, so you're coming. Well, he had me meet him in Alamosa or something, I think, and I can't remember if we loaded the car in his trailer or left it in the Walmart parking lot, but I ended up riding with him all the way down to Dirt Riot in Texas.. And that was a blast. You know, I didn't get to compete in my car that year. I had a Jeep Comanche that I used to race. I didn't— it was a lot of fun, but I didn't get a finish in my Jeep Comanche that year because of that crash. And I was there, I was running around the course supporting people. And I think Rachel Redhan was, was marking my leg with a Sharpie because I had a blood clot in my leg as I'm running around the course watching everybody else compete Dirt Riot Nationals.

[00:28:59.590] - Cody Folsom

It was a great day, and I was super, super glad that Josh Jackson invited me along. But the end of the day came, and this is where the story comes full circle. My dad called and he said, I need you to get home now. And I said, you know, what's up? I'm in Texas. And he goes, well, um, they found my sister, your auntie. She's crashed off of Twilight Peak out here. Her car went off the edge and nobody knew. It's been about 3 or 4 months, and they were able to identify that it was her. And I just had this, like, blood-chilling, like, cold sensation come over me because I knew at that time that person that came and told me to get off my ass and get on the bike was her. It was curly-haired. That silhouette was her. I knew it. I just couldn't see her face. And it just really— I mean, it, it turned me— it It was a shock. Wow. Well, yeah, it was something. So I got back in with another one of our Dirt Riot cohort family companions, uh, the Rances, which are just an amazing group of dudes.

[00:30:05.210] - Cody Folsom

Absolutely. And I hopped into their semi-truck with them and, and rode with the Rances from Texas all the way back. My dad met me in Farmington, came and got me from the Rances homestead there, and we came up and put my aunt back in the ground. But I knew, I knew when I crashed it, I thought it was her, it felt like her, but I thought, ah, she's just out doing her thing, she's, she's probably off in some foreign country right now exploring it. Turns out she had had a crash and nobody had heard from her because she was such an adventurous, out, you know, outgoing spirit that she would just kind of travel and pop up all over the place, and next thing you know, she was gone. She grew up and lived in California And that's the ironic part about her telling me, get up off your butt and move to California. It was like, okay, it all clicked together.

[00:30:52.820] - Big Rich Klein

So I have to ask, did you go to California? I don't remember that part.

[00:30:58.300] - Cody Folsom

No, no. And I sometimes really think I should have, but, uh, I did get back on the dirt bike and I did ride that dirt bike again to prove a point. So I'll take that.

[00:31:08.120] - Big Rich Klein

There you go. So let's, let's talk about getting into the rock crawling scene. Um, Jason Fuhli, you, you spotted for him. Was there— yeah, was there a time before that, um, or was he the one that introduced you to all that?

[00:31:27.940] - Cody Folsom

Jason and his family did. An amazing family. So that started at Avalanche Ranch and, uh, met him and his sister at Avalanche Ranch when we were kids, and I was racing motorcycles because I was really big into motocross. And, uh, I really liked doing endurocross, arena cross, anything that had moto in it. I was— I would try to find a way to get there, even if I drove myself all the way to Amarillo, Texas, to compete in arena cross. Well, I'd found that they're having a Weeby Racing Series over at Avalanche Ranch, which was owned by Steve Ramore, the fellow that came up with the Sniper buggy and the Assassin and all those really cool tube chassis cars, which at that time I had no clue and, uh, parked next to Jason's sister, met and liked her. And next thing you know, I'm talking to the family and they're out, you know, rock crawling, this and that. Jason's working for Steve Ramore and he's, uh, designing and building buggies, or at least rather I should say at that time learning how to design and build buggies with that group of people like Drew and, and Steve and others.

[00:32:31.870] - Cody Folsom

And, you know, Jason's just got this natural knack and ability for fabrication and design. And it fascinated me because him and I, we thought a lot alike, and it was really interesting to talk with him. Um, he moved over to Cortez. I think he got a job opportunity through Randy Rod and moved over to Cortez. And it took me about 4 or 5 years before I moved over with him. And, uh, WE Rock would travel and rock crawl the vehicles that he was building at Jimmy's. But one of the things that I enjoyed the most with Jason was, you know, in the evening whenever him and I would get off of work, because we were driver and spotter, me being the spotter, we would go practice with RC cars. And it was a lot of fun because we actually used these little model cars to kind of demonstrate some of the stuff that he was going to implement in the full-size designs. So Jason and I would change link positions and narrow up the ride height or move the links closer together and create different torque twist scenarios or unloading and loading scenarios for us to physically put our hands on the changes that were happening in the cars.

[00:33:42.600] - Cody Folsom

And for me, the timing is, is a lot different. When you look at guys like Rick Durmo and Rick Gersh, they came in and they were building Samurais with C4 transmissions strapped to the back of them. And, you know, then moving into a Subaru with a a completely different transmission behind it and making adapter plates and then just doing wild things. And then this transition occurs where everybody's starting to build buggies and using tube chassis cars to be more competitive. And when I came into my relationship with Jason and that group was right when they made that transition from slapping lift kits on Jeeps and Armor All and tires to really being focused on a competitive crawler, which I attribute a lot of that to the fact that people like yourself had created an environment for this to happen. And it was really, really neat seeing that transmission there between the two. But Jason was so creative and had so many cool ideas, and it was a lot of fun to cuss and discuss them with him. And, you know, we would use things like suck-down winches and, you know, different weights and tires and things of that nature.

[00:34:52.370] - Cody Folsom

And it was a lot of fun because it was more about having a good time than it was just winning. And I think that's the, the other part I enjoyed the most about WE Rock is that it— we had a blast winning, but even if we did all the way to Jellico, Tennessee, and had some of the best damn apple pie moonshine I'd ever tasted and got a butt kick, it was a blast, you know.

[00:35:15.880] - Big Rich Klein

Moonshine? I don't know what you're talking about. Yeah, yeah. Um, let's talk about some of those events that you did with Jason. The one that, that comes to my mind was Donner Ski Ranch. Oh, and I don't remember if you guys were like one of the first teams to go off that face that weekend. But I know that you, uh, you showed your athletic prowess on a cliff.

[00:35:54.500] - Cody Folsom

Oh, do you remember that? No. And, and that's the funny part is that there are certain portions of it that, you know, I remember— I really thought you were going to say Cedar City because I remember Cedar City, there was this vertical climb And he tried to go up it and had his winches sucked down a little too much. He didn't have enough suspension and the tires got to hopping and it caused him to come down and do a pirouette and land on his lid. Well, we got out and rolled the car back over. And I mean, I— my job was to make it a show, big. I mean, my job was to stack rocks and, and, you know, make it interesting for people to watch and to put on a show. And I, I like that. I like showboating. It was a lot of fun because it would keep people interested in it and When Jason rolled on Cedar City, I grabbed a hold of the car with him and we rolled that sucker back over, and that was a high point for me. I, I remember Donner, we dropped off a wall and he blew a wheel out and did all kinds of crazy stuff.

[00:36:50.200] - Cody Folsom

But man, it's— since there's been so many events, it's hard to remember all of them. I—

[00:36:56.220] - Big Rich Klein

what I seem to remember is that, that— and it was probably that roll, um, is you were getting him spotted up onto the— where to drop off of that, that face with the crack. And I mean, it's a— it was a good 12 or 14 foot, I want to say. And yeah, and he might have hit a little bit too much throttle, and you were standing a little too close to the edge, and just kind of bumped you. I mean, didn't run you over because he couldn't, because you had a place to go, which was backwards off of the rock. But if I remember right, you landed on your feet, or at least like hands and feet. And I thought, yeah, how— I remember how did that happen?

[00:37:42.750] - Cody Folsom

Yeah, I remember that now.

[00:37:45.100] - Big Rich Klein

And then, so, and then he drove off or fell off.

[00:37:49.510] - Cody Folsom

Well, yeah, well, his tire— what it was is his tire got wrapped up and, uh, bound up And I was coming up to let him know, let me get you to wiggle your steering wheel and I can maybe put a WE Rock in here, which is a pretty common thing. You know, you can turn your wheel left or right, open up that pocket, and then stick a rock in there, and it gives them the ability to lift the tire out of the hole. Well, I walked up there and for whatever reason I didn't make good communication, and Jason was still under the assumption that he should go. And when he did and the tire unloaded, the car kind of did this hop forward thing. I remember this now. And I, I got bunted and I went ass over tea kettle and flipped back over and landed on my feet. And I'm standing there like a cat looking at the front of Jason's car. Jason's eye, he's looking at me going, oh my God. And I said, I'm good, you good? He goes, I'm good. And I said, let's go, you know. And so we, we went ahead and kept going.

[00:38:45.240] - Cody Folsom

I mean, the courses are timed, right? And so, you know, you gotta You gotta stay, you know, attenuated to that. And, uh, boy, that was— yeah, I remember that now, Big.

[00:38:53.870] - Big Rich Klein

That, that was something. I, I always loved that car. That car was so damn stable. Yeah, on sidehills especially, that, uh, I, I, I don't think I could get it to roll over on a steep sidehill. I, yeah, you know, I used to try to balance out the courses for cars that I knew were going to be feeting on them and give everybody, you know, the, the chance, at least at part of an obstacle, to, uh, to excel. And that's one of the things that that car did so well. I, I couldn't believe it when he sold it, and then the guy that bought it trail rode it.

[00:39:35.040] - Cody Folsom

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Jason, uh, Jason, I, you know, got to give credit where credit's due. That guy is a smart and creative and well-thought-out individual. And it was a lot of fun sharing that hobby with him, and I was very blessed to be able to share it with him because he— I mean, he would put so much thought into everything. I mean, even the, you know, there was this whole plastic brake lines conversation, and before that even came out, Jason had been using plastic airlines and brake lines and all kinds of things to lighten the car up, you know, and He was always really thoughtful about those things and really enjoyed it very thoroughly. He didn't like going fast, but crawling he could do, and he loved that. And it was really interesting seeing the different stuff that he'd come up with and being a part of it. I felt pretty lucky, but there's so much to share about it. It's kind of hard to share exactly all the different little things that he did, but One of the other folks that I was always really impressed with was Dermo. Right. And Dermo, one of the more fun ones that he came up with was the spotter strap on the wheel hub.

[00:40:48.030] - Cody Folsom

And that was when we could actually start acting or influencing on the car a little bit and kind of helping it to find a line of obstacles. And Dermo came up with that snap swivel wheel hub latch and gave me a rope and you know, he put me on the end of a rope and put him in the crawler. It was, it was a lot of fun getting a non-rear steer car that was an actual old Campbell chassis Monster Energy car, uh, to be able to do some rear burns and that sort of thing while putting me on a rope on the back of it and pulling the back of the car around. And, you know, everyone that you dealt with in that sport, there was so much innovation and, and fun things that were creative to bring the, the ability to do something new or unique every time. It was, it was a lot of fun to experience that, and it was even more fun to walk through the pits and see stuff that, you know, wild. Like, what in the world? Jesse Haynes has portals now? Oh my God, you know. And it, it— that, that sport was amazing.

[00:41:50.190] - Cody Folsom

Um, a lot of innovators.

[00:41:52.940] - Big Rich Klein

So how did you end up tying up with with, with Dermo? Because I know that it was the Rick and Rick Show.

[00:42:01.650] - Cody Folsom

Yeah, you know, I, I had a job working out oil and gas out here for probably a total of about 10 years between two different companies. One of them was a subcontractor to the, the final company I worked for, which was Kinder Morgan, and Rick Gersh worked at Kinder Morgan and I'm not certain that, um, he didn't have anything with me getting a job there. I mean, I'm pretty sure he had his hand in that. Uh, him and Bob Clayton, uh, saw me working as a subcontractor and suggested that I should apply for the job. And I applied for the job and got the job. And that's when you kind of asked earlier about when things grew for you or when things changed for you. When I met Rick Gersh, my life changed. Rick Gersh pushed me to be more aware of public land use and to be more aware of people that are misusing or creating closures. He was articulate, he was outspoken, he was smart in the sense that he wouldn't insult you, but he would uplift you and educate you. And I had the opportunity of being placed at a facility that he operated.

[00:43:15.840] - Cody Folsom

Out in the oil and gas industry, which was about an hour and a half away in the middle of nowhere. I mean, the views out there were spectacular, but you could, you could hear yourself think if you wanted. And Rick at that time was still spotting for Dermo, Rick Dermo, and, and rock crawling with Dermo, and they had just kind of transitioned to taking a little bit of a break. But, uh, for whatever reason, Dermo had wanted to to get back into it, and, and he bought a Campbell's car. And Rick Gersh said, you know what, it's, uh, time for someone a little more spry to have a go around at it, and maybe you'd like to give it a shot. And I said, I'd love that, you know. Next thing I know, I'm meeting Rick Gersh for the first time person to person, other than seeing him at events, and discussing our plan of action for the upcoming WE Rock events. And that was a blast. I mean, I finally— I went from spotting Jimmy's cars and, and spotting, uh, well, I'd spot Jesse Haynes, it's about whoever, but spotting Jimmy's cars primarily, to now being able to spot a Campbell car.

[00:44:20.030] - Cody Folsom

And, and there were a vast amount of differences in how the cars performed, and there were some things each car did incredibly well and some things that you need a little more help with the spotter on. And that's where that spotter strap came in pretty handy. But Yeah, that's how I met Rick Girmo and Rick Gersh is through my work through Kinder Morgan, through the oil and gas. And they were really good to me. They let me go out and have a hell of a good time with them.

[00:44:46.380] - Big Rich Klein

Right. And then you and, and Girmo together at Cedar City won the nationals there. And which was a controversial co-win. We won't get into that. I've already discussed that with the other co-winner that, that, well, we won't get into it anyway. Um, but you guys were the national champions as far as I was concerned, um, winning the national championship. And, uh, that was, uh, you did double duty that weekend too because you spotted the Pro Mod car and then the Unlimited car. And people were trying to tell me that that was unfair. And I'm like, you guys don't understand, these two cars are completely different.

[00:45:31.420] - Cody Folsom

Yeah, yeah, that was absolutely miserable weekend, uh, for, for the difference in cars. Because one would assume that, you know, Jason's car would, uh, clearly flex or have belly clearance through one thing that the, the Camel Car would not. And that's because the Camel Car was built a flat 90-degree belly profile. And was meant for a different style of approach to obstacles. And so to interpolate the difference between the two cars as they came down obstacles was actually quite a challenge. Um, you know, the Camel Car would want to slide sideways unless you put it on a pivot rock on, on belly drops and slide-offs. And then Jimmy's car would— if you didn't put it in the right spot, it would lean over because of the V-bottom. Boat side bottom. And, uh, you know, it's just they're both so unique. And then one of them, of course, was on 37s and one of them was on 40s. Um, just a big difference in clearance. And then wheelbase, there's a decent difference. I think it was 8 inches, but I can't remember exactly, of wheelbase difference. And, uh, that was, that was an unusual thing that happened.

[00:46:40.740] - Cody Folsom

I think Jason and, and Dermo both you know, couldn't find an alternate spotter, and we didn't have many solutions. And I honestly wasn't ready for that role. Um, I kind of stepped in it, and now I got to step out of it kind of thing, you know. I followed through on something that I, I wasn't expecting to do, and then it turned out like a really great weekend. I had a blast competing against Justin and all the other drivers and, and being able to be on the course as much as I did was, was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it, um, with the two different cars. It was a lot of work. I, I like stacking rocks, but, uh, it, uh, that, that event site and those cars were, were a blast. That Cedar City area was a blast. Um, just thinking about the banner, and, uh, I think— I can't remember if Dermo ended up with the banner or somebody ended up with the banner, but That would be kind of neat to find, right?

[00:47:39.790] - Big Rich Klein

I think Dermo did. Yeah, I need to—

[00:47:42.470] - Cody Folsom

I need to call him.

[00:47:46.110] - Big Rich Klein

Yeah, you might have a wall for that, you mean?

[00:47:48.910] - Cody Folsom

Yeah, yeah, well, and I'll find a wall for it because that was a lot of fun. That was probably the one of the highest weekends, high point of off-roading for me was that weekend. And even though there was some controversy, like The controversy wasn't that bad to me. I mean, it was just, okay, well, this is how it's going to happen, whatever, no big deal. We're all here doing the same thing. And, and it, it, looking back, it might have been in the moment a bit frustrating, but looking back at it now, it doesn't matter to me. I mean, it, it was an enjoyable thing to share and to, to have that competition with others, um, that, man, if we only knew now what we, what we, what we know now then kind of thing, you know? Right.

[00:48:34.550] - Big Rich Klein

Oh, but, uh, let's talk about getting into the rock racing. Oh yeah, going, going a little faster. Um, yeah, when did that start for you?

[00:48:46.290] - Cody Folsom

Because of you. Because of me? What? Yeah, yeah, you, uh, started Dirt Riot and we had read these, these class rules for the stock class at other event series, and it was interesting, but it was too far away. It was out of reach, and it wasn't something that we could take two cars to. It was, um, not ideal. And when you started Dirt Riot and put two events on the same weekend, it was amazing. It was, it was like, oh my gosh, we gotta do two different things and have a full weekend of fun adventures. It was a last.

[00:49:23.840] - Big Rich Klein

So it was a nightmare for us.

[00:49:27.120] - Cody Folsom

I'll bet that was something. Yeah, I couldn't only imagine setting up all those courses, Big. That— you guys are hell of a team. Um, but yeah, we, we saw those rules. I, I would actually wake up early in the morning before I went to my, my job at oil and gas and sit down and make notes on the rules online of what I could find on, you know, some of the forums and stuff, and Oh boy, forums, we don't use those anymore. No, but, uh, yeah, I've put together a Jeep Cherokee, which was my, my partner's first car that she had drove, and she was very kind and let me pretty much destroy it because she saw that racing was going to be a lot of fun. So I took her Jeep Cherokee, it was called Raz Spaz, and, uh, put some bumpers and stuff on it and put a roll cage in it. And boy, if it wasn't for Randy Rod giving me a place to bend that tubing and, and to have some hardware, I, I still thank him to this day because I had no idea the opportunity that I, I went into his shop while he was building a business and he, uh, let me after hours go in and, and bend a chassis.

[00:50:38.680] - Cody Folsom

And, uh, I, I still can't appreciate that enough. It just to put together a little Dirt Riot beater and to have a good car to go out and play on the weekend, it changed my whole life. Um, he was very kind to let us do that, and, uh, I always tried to run a sticker on there because he gave us that little bit that got us out playing and got us having fun, despite the fact that he was trying to build a small business and, and what's turned into a really impressively large, massive business. Um, we would go to those dirt riots and do WE Rock one day and dirt riot the next. And, and it was, um, a lot of fun to go fast. I, I enjoyed the Cherokees a lot. The first race I went to was actually Moab in, uh, the Cherokee, and there was a jump out there that, whatever reason, I decided to press my luck and jump. And nobody really saw it, but it was really hard on the car. Um, at that time I still had a Dana 44 rear and like a 35 front. And I remember looking back, Randy did say, he said, spend once, cry once.

[00:51:52.270] - Cody Folsom

If you don't swap out these axles, you're gonna, you're gonna spend more in the long run. And I said, oh no, it can't be that bad, you know, it's just go fast and that sort of thing. And little did I know that the guy that was building the WE Rock courses was building the Dirt Riot courses. So You know, I end up going fast, a little too fast, and I bent that axle in half. I don't even know how many times, and dropped the engine through the engine compartment. I don't know how many times. And I think I enjoyed that car so much because, you know, you couldn't really go fast like an Ultra 4 car fast, but you could, you know, neutral drop it and you could do all these silly things to it. It was like racing the stock class and round-round racing. I mean, it's just something you could beat the tar out of and have a ball doing.

[00:52:35.960] - Big Rich Klein

When you say that jump, are you talking about the gap jump?

[00:52:40.220] - Cody Folsom

Yeah, so I— there was, there was a gap jump, and then there's like a little knob next to it that was also kind of a jump. And I thought, well, I'll just all button, you know, launch off of this. And I think I still have a picture of the Cherokee somewhere of it like coming down, and it, it broke stuff. And I, I don't even know if I finished that weekend because I think I ran out of tires because that area, BFE is so jagged for sharp edges and tires. I, I think I was running some— originally I had Pro Comps, and those were pretty cool tires, but they weren't cool when I put the sidewall of them into a rock. And, and that's just, you know, my driving. Um, I went through, I think, 3 tires, and I was sitting in the bottom of that wash by the end of the weekend, kind of limping that Jeep back up to the parking area. But, uh, yeah, that gap jump was really something there. That, that was a lot of fun, that gap jump on the and watching people go over it. Later in life, I managed to jump it in more capable cars, but, uh, Dirt Riot was the beginning of me learning to go fast and learning how to handle a car off-road and, and do a good job of, of drifting and knowing what's coming on the course.

[00:53:50.080] - Cody Folsom

And that led into some other fun stuff, uh, you know, There was drivers in the 4400 class of the King of the Hammers that saw me racing Dirt Riot, and I went and started doing some of those Ultra 4 races and stuff in a new car. I built a Comanche and did that one pretty much all on my own except for the cage. Again, Randy Rod let me come in in the afternoon and evening and use his bender and buy some tubing from him, and I still can't thank that fella enough. I mean, You know, he really made sure that we were able to go out and play, and it was, it was, it was a really cool thing that he did for us. So got that Comanche going, went out and started doing Dirt Riot and King of the Hammers Ultra 4 stuff. And what happened next was some of the drivers in the Unlimited class, like Shane Chidicks, that were originally from the XRRA series, um, kind of started seeing that I was a decent driver and it would give them the opportunity to ride in my car before they got on course to race their car.

[00:54:55.620] - Cody Folsom

So it was like getting a free pre-run so they could make friends with you and then try to jump in as your co-driver in the stock class. And then next thing you know, because of that, the roles flipped and you're jumping in their 4400 car, which is just, I mean, an absolute animal off-road. And, and going for a ride with them. And then the driver I was with, Shane Shidix, he gave me a hell of a ride. I mean, I've never gotten nauseous or sick from much anything other than a roller coaster, but that guy, he could almost get you to puke if he wanted. He, he could drive like a son of a gun, you know.

[00:55:31.930] - Big Rich Klein

I, I don't know if I would ever get in the car with him. That guy had no fear of, of self-injury or, you know, yeah, destruction or whatever. And he seemed to do the destruction part really well.

[00:55:51.420] - Cody Folsom

Well, you know, I would just quantify that with, uh, they needed to build it tougher for the next time around. And that, that kind of led into the, uh, you know, being his, uh, mechanic. You know, he, he gave me a job fixing his cars and sending them home with me. And, uh, I was able to basically be his one-stop shop for race prep service. And, you know, I learned how to tune shocks through him. I learned how to mess with motor tunes. I did a lot through Shane that he provided a platform for me to not only go racing for and with him, uh, and to be his co-driver, but to also built myself up more mechanically with a completely unique and different style of car. I mean, every product that— when we started doing this stuff, it was, you know, stock transmissions, stock engines, and racing a grassroots series like Dirt Riot. And man, I really wish that we still had something like that today because I feel like there's so many people that would want to race that and build a foundation again like we had in the past. Because now the evolution from that, that it's become these Ultra 4 cars with very specific niche parts that are fairly expensive, it's, it's made it where it's on a different level.

[00:57:12.440] - Cody Folsom

And it takes a specialist, it takes somebody who's really tuned in and understands the products and understands, you know, the, the transfer case gear ratios and why we use this one and, you know, what portal we're going to use and why we use this one and, and what things are going to fail. And there's so many different niches to this sport now that come with such a high price tag that it makes it really unique to have someone that knows how to tune those shocks, that knows how to jump into that motor and find what's going on with it, and to diagnose the manual valve body transmission with the special internal parts that have made it basically bulletproof thanks to folks like Randy Roth. It's definitely changed, but Shane gave me that opportunity. Shane gave me the opportunity to hop in the car with him, learn how to, uh, fix the car that I'd never thought I'd have an opportunity to mess with because they're way out of my budget. And it was an absolute blast. I mean, that guy would drive like his butt was on fire. I, I've never ever gone so fast and so wild than anything in my whole life.

[00:58:22.730] - Cody Folsom

So I still swing down and see him every, every so often. I need to get down to Texas and see him again. But, uh, yeah, that guy can drive. I, I think a lot of the times what we had for mechanical failures, if, if things were a little different, you know, that car was supercharged, it was rear engine, and it was hot. It was really hot. And, and I think that, you know, we wanted to have so much horsepower because it was a lot of fun to be able to blip that throttle and make the car do what you want. But the way he drove and the ability that he had in the desert and the ability that he had, pretty decent ability in the rocks, I think if we had a little bit detuned motor, he probably would have had a pretty good outcome in a lot of different places. I do remember the first time he got in that car, Big Rich, we were in I think it was Tucson, and I think that was about the same time that Nick Schaefer and Captain Rob took out that cholla bush.

[00:59:23.000] - Big Rich Klein

And that's the chollas down in Tucson. Yeah, man, that thing got popular.

[00:59:27.940] - Cody Folsom

So we went up and did that man-made rock crawling course, and, and the first obstacle that we did, and that car having all the power it had, we went up that thing and then we pirouetted and we ended up turtled up on top of that obstacle and got winched out of there. That was our first crash in that thing. And after we got the new war off of it, well, he just drove it like he meant it ever since, right?

[00:59:49.990] - Big Rich Klein

He did. And he wasn't afraid to— definitely not afraid to throw money at more power. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:59:58.730] - Cody Folsom

No, he didn't have any qualms about that. And that was actually a pretty fun deal too. I never had been able to go to an engine tuner and, uh, He took us to Colorado Springs and there was an engine tuner up there. I can't remember the name of the shop, but we tied that sucker down to a dyno and I can't even remember what ungodly number it was making, something like 700 or something. Back then that was a big number. Um, and yeah, he liked getting that thing to turn out as much power as he could. You know, of course the guy did Pikes Peak Hill Climb racing, he did XRA, he did I think ARCA and UROC stuff. I can't remember all the stuff he did, but Shane had quite a, quite a history as well. And again, this sport and the people in it, you just can't get away from it. They're family, you know. Right. So it's, it's been amazing.

[01:00:48.020] - Big Rich Klein

So let's talk about what you're doing now. You mentioned earlier about the store, um, and, uh, why don't you get into that a little bit, how, how all that came about?

[01:01:00.430] - Cody Folsom

Well, uh, to be honest, it was a bit of a family crisis. So I had been on my own for a while and had met a new partner, um, and I moved down to Arizona and had started kind of dating and talking to this partner. And about 3 months into that and kind of feeling things out I got a call from my family, and my sister, she's had a bit of a colorful past, but she was off on another adventure and had left her kids for my dad to raise. And, uh, I got this call with a picture of a baby niece one morning and, uh, went and showed my partner Katie at the time. And Katie's still here with me to this day. I mean, I'm very blessed, but I showed Katie at that time, I showed her a picture of my niece and I said, hey, uh, I know we're just getting to know each other and that sort of thing and talking and that, but this just came up and I got to go back to Colorado. So I had the oil and gas job, had been working here in Southwest Colorado pretty much, you know, the beginning of my young adult life, and needed to make some life changes and stuff and, and needed to move, kind of see something different.

[01:02:21.600] - Cody Folsom

Decided that I was gonna sell the place and move down to Phoenix, Arizona. And then the reason I first went down there is I actually had called to, um, Ray Mandel. And at that time, side-by-sides were getting pretty dang popular, and I was trying to find an opportunity. I was trying to find a way to make a living and make a product and get ahead. Well, Ray Mandel had already done something pretty cool. It was for the new Polaris, I think 900 at the time. He came up with some CNC machined suspension components, and it was really some of the first stuff that people had even come up with CNC machined. And I think he did it on a manual mill mostly, which was pretty impressive. Well, I asked him, you know, if I cash out my Kinder Morgan retirement, can I go down to Arizona and see if I can find someone to manufacture these products and see if we can, you know, produce them and market them and sell them, which I was always trying to find a way to do that, um, with the Jimmy's crew or with any crew. If they came up with something that was something that could be repeated and provide a living for all of us, I was very interested in that.

[01:03:30.460] - Cody Folsom

I was very business focused on that. I wanted to have some sort of a product or some sort of a thing that was repeatable that didn't have me, you know, breaking my hands and getting arthritis and, and, and having to bust my chops for the rest of my life. I wanted to find a way to mass produce a, you know, an XJ bumper or something like that, and, and then make it readily available and reasonably priced. Well, I went down to Phoenix with this idea that I was going to try to find people to help me produce suspension for off-road side-by-sides and ATVs, that sort of thing, because it was such a big market that was beginning to break out. And I think about that time is when like Delco David started working at some of those shops down there in the south. And I have not seen Steven ever be out of work a single day since then. But I was down there for 4 months and I ended up working construction because it was kind of like, let's settle in here, let's see what things are like. I was tearing the runway out of the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport and replacing all the utilities under the runway with new utilities.

[01:04:33.840] - Cody Folsom

It was a big job. For a major contractor. There's a lot of fun. But next thing you know, I'm getting this call and I'm trying to get pulled back into Southwest Colorado. And I mean, it's a, it's a unique thing here. You know, my sister's off experiencing some stuff that she can't be a good mother. And at that time, she had to split. And I've got 3 nieces, you know, here. And I turned to my partner, I said, I gotta go. And for whatever reason, She decided to walk away from her lifestyle in Arizona, which I'm so lucky, and she came with me up here big, and we raised my baby nieces for the first 2 years. And those kids ended up, you know, getting back with their mom and bouncing all over the country and stuff. But Katie and I ended up in a situation where my dad had tried to make a mercantile store and had this mercantile and this, this marina going and couldn't handle all three of those things. You know, he had the nieces, he had the marina, he had the mercantile, and then, you know, there's this, um, kind of, I would say, uh, old motel up in Rico that he's also trying to restore and, and put back in business, and it's just too much.

[01:05:52.370] - Cody Folsom

I mean, he doesn't have the funding to do it, and, and So we came back. I took the retirement money that I had for Kinder Morgan and put it into the store. And, uh, you know, one thing led to another. We built this store up. I mean, I— the first year I was in here, I could hang one item on a peg. I could hang one item on a peg. And I learned something about retail. I learned if you put one item on a peg, people look at that and they say, oh, I gotta hold back and save that for the next person. You put greater than 3 items on a peg and people grab 2 of them. And I realized that I needed to get my butt to work again. So Katie ran the store for 12 to 14 hours a day, and I would go work night shift at different companies like CDOT, Dolores Water Conservancy District. I went logging for a number of years at night, and then I'd come back throughout the day and put in 2, 3 hours of maintenance here and there. But really, Katie helped raise the nieces.

[01:06:51.500] - Cody Folsom

She, she operated the store. She turned into what it is. She's got the products in there. I provided the financial ability by going to work at those jobs at night and, and those side jobs and building. Clint Kressler, uh, he— I built him a 100 by 100 by 25-foot tall steel building out in Dove Creek. Thank God for that guy. He gave me a hell of a job. Um, you know, there was a lot of people that when I came back to the community They said, hey, you're back, you need some work, and I would do it. But that's how we got the store going. And then the store kind of turned into this thing where we realized that people were coming to our area, but they had no idea what is in Dolores. It's really, you know, a pass-through town. And our hearts, we've looked at each other several times and said, you know, you want to move? Do you want to leave? Do you want to go somewhere else? It's a small town. It's not super duper financially viable. It, uh, it takes a loan to get through winter. And, and for whatever reason, we love this community and we love the, the people that come and the ability to share what we're building in that store with those folks.

[01:07:59.450] - Cody Folsom

So we started adding outdoor gear, fishing tackle. We have a winching and recovery section. We have snatch blocks. We have, you know, off-road lighting stuff. We've got all kinds of little things in this store. You can go in in the winter, you can get snow gloves and pants and goggles, and you can rent a sled. In the summer, you can come by and grab a kayak or a tube or a paddleboard. You can rent Jeeps at our store. You can rent a side-by-side at our store. If you just want to come in and buy some non-ethanol gas and breakfast and head to work up in Telluride, we've got you covered, you know. Uh, we make, you know, handmade burritos, and, and we've got handmade subs and sandwiches now. It's really grown into a unique and, and beautiful little store, and, and we've got amazing employees, which the first 5 years we've never had really a lot of help. We had a couple people here and there that came, and we're really lucky for them, but now we've got 3 full-time employees And never thought that we could afford that. And here we sit, you know, we've got 3 full-time employees and we're opening up an auto shop next door.

[01:09:07.720] - Cody Folsom

So it's over the last 10 years, it's really, it's really changed us and it's really changed where our life course went when we came back to kind of help raise those nieces and raise that family. And, uh, you know, for the last 5 or 6 years we've kind of just been working on our own and not had the nieces around. They've been off doing their own thing. They, they actually just got back from a tour across the country in an RV, and they're, they're kind of homeschooled now by their mom, and she's, she's on the straight and narrow and is kicking butt. And so we're kind of hearing the story like, wow, you know, things are working out. And it's just funny where life takes you, you know.

[01:09:47.650] - Big Rich Klein

Right. No give up. Heck yeah, no. Hell no. So you guys are Dolores forever, you think? You know, I'm gonna say yes, tentatively.

[01:10:05.280] - Cody Folsom

And the reason is, the store is amazing and fun. And if I can find a way for it to operate itself, without us having to be there every day for the day-to-day stuff. If I can come there 2, 3 days a week and, and do the, the bookkeeping and do the accounting and then, and the back end of ordering products and making sure that things are being kept up, I would love to do another one. And that's when Katie and I actually opened the auto store up next door, which is, you know, auto shop. Uh, we started just doing auto service and repair. I wasn't trying to do anything off-road. I have a huge respect for the people in my community that are already doing custom car builds and things of that nature. I, I kind of wanted to more go back to my roots of, uh, you know, fixing old cars. And I know how to— not a lot of people these days know how to tune a carburetor. I mean, you get a lot of— I have— we have the second largest man-made reservoir in the state of Colorado, and technically it's going to be the third one if they get done building that one up by Denver, but if they got water to fill it, let's say.

[01:11:11.110] - Cody Folsom

But we've got a pretty decent reservoir down here. It's tucked away and hidden. Not a lot of people know about it. And because of that, a lot of the boats are older and carbureted and that sort of thing. And then a lot of the vehicles around here, CJ-5, CJ-7, Toyota 22RE, all these older vehicles that people run around in down here, I fix them up and, you know, repair them and that. And I've got kind of a mechanical knack. So we opened a store next door to the outfitters and it's called Kodiak Automotive. We kind of made a bit of a joke on it, you know, Cody the Kodiak. And, and, uh, it's been fun because I've been doing auto repair and kind of subsidizing the income. But I've learned through this shop that I do have the ability to come up with a product, but what I need to do is be closer to where it's easy to manufacture that product. And I also need to spend some more time growing and studying my CAD skills, or I need to find someone that'll help me draw some of the stuff that I've got stuck in my noggin.

[01:12:15.510] - Cody Folsom

Um, I can only get so far with the knowledge that I have, and spending a lot of my time between the Outfitters and the auto shop, it keeps me where I'm not able to put a lot of time into the study and research of the program that I want to draw with. So yeah, I think I want to move eventually, uh, and especially for the opportunity to try to build a product that I could hopefully employ people back in Dolores with. So what I mean to say is, if I could design hypothetically a bumper, and that bumper could be something that is press broke and stamped and laser cut by Cody at Laser Nut or some other, you know, major corporation like that, and then have it shipped to Dolores and assembled and welded here. That would be my ideal dream of where things are at right now. I, I kind of want to see manufacturing come back to my community. I want to see things in my community grow and develop, and that's a challenge. This is— this community is in poverty. This community has a 71 or 70 Medicaid Medicare rate. Um, it's, it's, it's needing industry again, and that's a challenge in Colorado.

[01:13:30.140] - Cody Folsom

So yeah, I, I'd move sometimes. I'd consider moving, but I'd always want to bring the work back to town big. I, I think that it's important to— jobs are important, and people having jobs and having an income and a living here are very important. And it's challenging to start from here, especially with my lack of knowledge on some of the things I'm trying to do. But that's what I'm trying to do now, is I want to, I want to create something that we can assemble or have assembled here and then ship out, or manufacture it here and then ship out. That's awesome.

[01:14:04.190] - Big Rich Klein

It's really cool. Cody, I want to say thank you so much for coming on and sharing your life and, you know, what you've what you've accomplished and what you've done and all that with our listeners. I really, I miss you, dude. You know, you're like one of my boys. You know, I've got this collection. Shelly always says I attract Lost Boys or misfits. Yeah. Yep. You know, and, uh, you were— I don't know if you were ever a Lost Boy or a misfit, but you, you were one of those that just became part of the family. And I've really appreciated that friendship, and it was really good seeing you guys again at Easter Jeep this year. And, uh, I look forward to you being a success with your product. Um, I'm sure it's the bumper assembly that I saw is what you're talking about. And yeah, a little bit. Yeah, hopefully, um, you can get that off the ground and get it out there to the general public. I mean, there's definitely a need for it, especially as people get older like me.

[01:15:26.370] - Cody Folsom

Yeah, yeah, not just you, not just you, Big. And again, thank you to you and Shelly and your crew. I mean, It's some of the best times that I ever spent. Uh, I reflect back on daily, if, if, if not more than daily, because of the adventures that we were able to go on because of the environment that you guys facilitated and the friendship. I mean, you guys, your disposition and your kindness and your, your candor with handling conflict and, and the stuff that you guys did together as a team It actually made a huge impact on my life and a lot of people's lives. I believe that, that you guys not just created a series and, and helped to develop some of the beginnings and, and ultimately some of the biggest off-roading scenes in the world, you guys also facilitated family and, and kindness. And, and it was really, really impressive to see, and I can't tell you guys how much we appreciated it. You know, Katie, all of our families, everybody that saw what you guys were doing, it was amazing, big. And thank you guys for that. So, um, looking forward to trying to do some more racing here in the future, but we'll always be missing what we shared with you guys.

[01:16:44.180] - Big Rich Klein

That's awesome. I appreciate hearing that. Um, it does my old heart good to, uh, to know that I made an impact besides just me having fun. Yeah, that couldn't mean something, you know, and I, I appreciate that.

[01:17:01.180] - Cody Folsom

Heck yeah, man. Heck yeah. Well, like I said, uh, you know, I've got the auto shop going here next door. I'm gonna get back at it. I've actually got some wakeboard boats and stuff to get in the shop this morning and work on. All right. Uh, if you're ever in Southwest Colorado, you listeners, and y'all need anything Right down here in Dolores, you know, just stop on by. We'll get you guys squared away and appreciate any business you give us. So thanks for the time, Big Rich.

[01:17:24.350] - Big Rich Klein

I appreciate you. Appreciate it, Cody, and, uh, good luck in the future, and, uh, let's stay in touch. Heck yeah, man. All right, you take care. Thank you. Likewise. All right, 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 a 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 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.