Today we’d like to introduce you to Andy Sanchez
Hi Andy, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Growing up in Colorado, we were always outside. I grew up with normal family camping trips and hikes. As I grew older, I became more interested in getting to and being able to thrive in more remote and less crowded areas. Fly fishing, mountain biking, and backpacking became how I spent most of my free time. Traveling to these places for most of my life meant staying on the beaten path, limited by where my vehicle (or lack thereof) at the time could take me. In my late teens, I met a person who owned a small business selling parts and accessories for mainly Jeep vehicles. Through that friendship, I learned a lot about how to build a vehicle for taking the roads less traveled, learned how to be prepared for self-rescue in remote places, but mostly it made me want to explore farther and more often. After Colorado, I bounced around for work, was sent to the Palm Beach area for a year, and was sent to Vegas after that. Nevada was a land of firsts for me. It was the first place I felt that I could explore without being limited by my vehicle. Nevada is HUGE and mostly empty of people. I met my now-wife in Vegas; we both worked in public land conservation. We ended up moving to Reno for a job opportunity that she had been offered and accepted. Reno was where we shared our first off-road vehicle together, a 1991 Jeep Wrangler YJ that we named “Barley” since I was brewing for a living at the time. We would cruise around the Mt. Rose and Peavine Peak areas every weekend with our dog, Abbey. After a few years in Reno, we were headed back to Colorado. This time, I had accepted a new job in Longmont at a large regional brewery. Being back in Colorado was great; it was a state that my wife had always wanted to live in. We lived there for about three years, bought our truck there, and explored as much as we could. Unfortunately, after all the years away, new experiences, new outlooks, and trying to find our own little piece of the world to call ours, Colorado was no longer home. We set out south to New Mexico for new jobs, a new property, and new adventures. We packed up the dogs, our Subaru, and my 2018 Chevy Colorado and headed to the Middle Rio Grande Valley, where we have been ever since. Since being in New Mexico, we have really been into the overland scene. I have built our rig for a specific mission set here in the desert Southwest. Social media was something I was honestly never interested in. I had an empty Instagram account for years, never have tweeted, and Facebook was just dog photos. Now that my presence is growing and I am able to start working with some brands on exciting projects, it’s definitely a strange experience. I have no desire to be an “influencer“. I started making YouTube videos only for my wife’s family to follow along on our adventures. My only hope with social media is to inspire people to get out and explore.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Getting to where we are has never been easy. We had a family circumstance that allowed us to finally be able to purchase a vehicle that was able to do what we wanted it to do. Work, family life and every other struggle that I imagine most people also deal with always there. As far as building the truck the way we wanted, we mostly faced lack of aftermarket support. The Chevy Colorado platform was not supported nearly as much by the aftermarket until fairly recently. Finding brands to work with, finding parts, finding accessories etc was difficult and has improved a lot over the years. We also struggled with being able to go where we wanted, but still had to keep the truck as a daily driver so we had to be reasonable and safe during the week. My daily commute is much shorter now and we don’t deal with city driving anymore, we have really built our rig since being here in New Mexico.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I currently work in a clinical healthcare setting. I work hands on with patients in a specialty department. I have had many jobs, many attempts at careers in the past. I’ve worked in electrical distribution, brewing, and fire/EMS both structure and wildland. Wanderlust has affected me in every part of my life.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Plan ahead. Don’t expect to get into overlanding, offroading, backpacking, mountain biking or any activity without a million decisions and choices. The overland market is huge now. You don’t need a ton of extras and accessories to get started. Start with the rig you have, start with basics. Get an app like onX (can’t recommend them enough) and get started. Most importantly, learn some basic skills in first aid, land navigation and mechanics. Probably even as important if not more so, learn about Leave no Trace, and Tread Lightly practices. Public land has a target on its back now, we need to be stewards of the land to protect it.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/overlandnm
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/OverlandNM
Image Credits
Andy Sanchez
©AS Photo Project
