Traversing nearly the entire west coast from top to bottom, out to Colorado, and places in between, Lindsey and Doug’s old Scout has faithfully taken them farther than they ever imagined. Over the years, Lindsey’s Instagram Channel (called the.girl.scout – @the.girl.scout) has amassed more than 40,000 followers and is a visual feast of stunning photos and reels of the places they love to explore.
Scout Motors caught up with Lindsey and Doug recently and sat down to chat about their travels, share some of their stories and learn a bit more about what draws them to nature and their beloved Scout.
Q: SO TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELVES.
Doug: I grew up in New Jersey and was always into camping, hiking, and the outdoors. I had spent a lot of time living a “City” life and enjoyed photography, documenting graffiti and urban environments, often exploring places I probably shouldn’t have. But I was drawn more to the outdoors and so I decided to move west to California. Shortly after moving, I went off-roading with some friends and I was like, oh my God, I need to do this all the time. So that’s what I started doing. I kind of went nuts. Next thing you know, every minute I wasn’t working, I was off-roading and wrenching on my Jeep.
Lindsey: I was born in California and lived in Alaska and Colorado, so I’ve been an outdoor person most of my life.
I bought the Scout as a daily driver. At least until Doug stole it.
Doug: (laughs nervously).
Lindsey: I always wanted a Scout and saved my money up when I was in high school to buy one. About ten years ago, Doug and I were on a trip and spotted this baby blue Scout II on some farmland, so we stopped and asked about it, and the rest was history.
Doug: I remember after we got it, I would stand outside and stare at it thinking about how we would fit 40-inch offroad tires on it. Eventually, I sold my Jeep, and we used some money to modify the Scout.
Lindsey: And that’s what I mean by Doug “stole it” (Laughs).
As we learned more about the heritage and everything about the brand, we just fell deeper in love with Scouts.
- Doug
Q: SO HOW DID YOU GET STARTED DOCUMENTING YOUR TRAVELS?
Lindsey: I was a graphic designer, designing websites and blogs for people. I built a blog for my mom and my brother, and they both started making more money than I was in a year. I was like, what do you mean you make your own schedule? I had some health stuff going on, so I had to reevaluate how I was eating. So I started eating really healthy, and that’s when I started my food blog, and it’s been a full-time gig ever since. Doug was actually the one that started the.girl.scout Instagram site, as I hadn’t done much of that before.
Doug: I was a creative director at an advertising agency, and the burnout was real. I found getting outdoors and away from it all really helped. I also thought it would be great to take some of the photos and videos we were shooting on our trips and start to document it through the channel.
Q: WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO BUY A SCOUT OVER OTHER VEHICLES?
Lindsey: Honestly, it was an Autotrader ad I saw a long time ago. I didn’t really know the big difference between Broncos and Scouts. I also didn’t know much about the history. But, I found that Scout in the ad, fell in love with it, and was just set on getting a Scout someday. So when we found a Scout on the side of the road in the same blue color, it was just too serendipitous.
Doug: Also, as we learned more about the heritage, we just fell deeper in love with Scouts. Plus, the community around them is amazing.
Q: WHAT WAS THE FIRST THING YOU DID AFTER GETTING IT?
Doug: We took it rock crawling in Corral Canyon (laughing). It already had a lift kit, baby rock sliders, and 37″ offroad tires. We took it out on a harder trail, and it did really well.
Lindsey: (laughing) It wasn’t exactly a perfect trip.
Doug: Did we smash it up?
Lindsey: No, it overheated, and the transfer case locked up. We blocked up the trail until some people helped. We really didn’t know what we were doing with it yet and have learned so much since then.
Doug: The thing that I loved most was the fact that I’d never seen one on a trail before. It was the prettiest truck I’d ever seen. So I fell in love with that right away, the color, all of it. I saw a ton of potential for modifications, too. The things we’re able to do in it still amaze me sometimes.
Lindsey: Over time, we rebuilt the motor and added fuel injection. In the beginning, it felt like we were fixing things three or four times before we did it the “right” way. We were learning (laughs).
Doug: We also replaced the transfer case and the radiators and fans. Basically, as we broke things, we replaced them.
Lindsey: We are both far more knowledgeable than when we first bought it. The Scout Community has been great and supportive.
Q: SO WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO START DOCUMENTING YOUR TRAVELS?
Doug: I just wanted people to believe me. We were having the most incredible experiences ever, and on Monday morning at work, I’d have a hard time explaining it all in a way that did it justice. Capturing that on camera became a really fun challenge for me.
And then the Scout made it even better. The blue color pops off of everything. And because I have Lindsey I don’t have to put myself on camera. And I think people appreciate that (laugh).
Q: IS YOUR INSTAGRAM CHANNEL YOUR MAIN OUTLET?
Doug: Yeah, we’ve never really done anything else. We started shooting YouTube and devote a lot of time to it, so that’s in the works. We’ve never done any promoted content or sponsored posts or anything like that. It was more about photography and adventure.
Lindsey: It took on a life of its own and had this momentum to it that really surprised both of us.
Q: THAT SENSE OF ADVENTURE FUELS YOUR PASSION?
Doug: For me, it’s really like I’m doing something no one else gets to do. I’m having this experience that no one else gets to have, and I get to photograph it and take it home. But in this moment, no one’s here but us. And I think that’s the coolest feeling in the world.
Lindsey: There’s something about being in a vintage truck, by ourselves, getting in sticky situations. Like rock crawling, you break things. That’s what happens. And it’s just the adrenaline rush that we get a little bit from all that too.
Doug: Every off-road trail exists for a reason. That’s something Lindsey and I have really, really gotten into over the past couple of years is wild-west history, Spanish colonization, native American hunting trails, old mining roads – every single turn leads to something.
Q: HOW DO YOU RESEARCH YOUR TRIPS? WHAT TOOLS DO YOU USE?
Lindsey: We have a lot of trail books that I read from. Plus, I do a lot of history reading as well, and then I’ll find the GPS coordinates from there and plug them into our maps. We use OnX and verify some things on Google Earth.
Doug: You should see her Google Maps. It looks like Hellraiser with all the pins (laughs).
Lindsey: I’ll research history and go crazy reading all night to try to give us context for where we are or where we were the day before and where we going the next day. It’s like anything interesting you can think of, from a gravesite to a waterfall to a building to petroglyphs.
Doug: If it’s on this side of the country, Lindsey has a pin for it. So that’s really cool because we’re able to snake through her Google maps, and it’s a constant reference of stuff to see and experience.
More and more trails are being popularized by apps and people sharing locations on social media. But when you go to the books, you find trails that no one knows about. History no one knows about and the backstory of the trails that no one knows about. And so we do that a lot.
Q: DO YOU KEEP MANY OF THE PLACES YOU VISIT TO YOURSELVES?
Doug: I’ve always felt that if you are willing to put in the work, you’re going to be more respectful of what you get out of it. You’re going to treat the place better. You’re going to litter less, and stay on the trail. You’ll act like a conservationist. You care about where you are, and you cherish it. So that’s why we don’t share everything.
Q: SO ARE THERE PLACES THAT HAVE TOUCHED YOUR HEART THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO RETURN TO?
Lindsey: Colorado for me. Colorado will always have my heart. I love it there so much. There’s so much mining history. Every trail you go on, you’ll stumble on a beautiful old mining structure, and then there’s a hot spring at the end of the trail. There is just so much to explore.
Doug: I think Colorado’s the most beautiful. Oregon too. I think Utah’s the most diverse. Arizona is another one of our favorites. There are just so many places to see.
Q: I IMAGINE YOU HAVE SOME INTERESTING STORIES ALONG THE WAY…
Lindsey: (laughs) Oh, for sure. We’ve broken down more times than we can count, but a lot of good people have helped. Once, the shifter cable broke at 5000 feet on a shelf road with steep drop-offs. We had to use a crowbar to shift the Scout and limp it back to civilization. It took two days.
Doug: Sometimes you camp in places that you think are still public land, but you inadvertently end up on private property or near private property. So I’ve had people shooting over my head while sleeping in a tent. They also locked the gate to that trail while I was in there, so getting out was a little tricky. Luckily some guys came along the following day and helped out. It is all crazy sometimes, but it is part of the adventure.
Q: ANY FAVORITE SCOUT MEMORIES?
Lindsey: Beach camping in Northern California and Oregon, sleeping in the back of the Scout, listening to the waves crash, swimming in the morning, seeing whales all day, grilling at night.
Also camping right on the edge of the Grand Canyon, and having it all to ourselves.
Doug: We went on this epic two week TV shoot with Toyo a few years ago. The last day we were at Sand Hollow in Utah. Early in the morning, just after sunrise, I pulled this huge wheelie on an obstacle and snapped our tie rod. We managed to get down the hill, got it welded back up, and made it back to the same obstacle as the sun was setting. I tried it again, and broke the weld.
When we finally got the Scout back down to the staging area, all we could do was laugh. Those were some of the best beers I’ve ever had in my life.
Q: WHAT WOULD YOU CONSIDER THE MOST IMPORTANT GEAR YOU WOULDN’T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT?
Lindsey: Recovery bag, for sure. We have the coolest fire pit ever. It’s an old Weber Grill that we modified. So it’s perfect for camp spots that require you to bring your own fire container — but it’s also a big, fully functioning grill. No camp stove can handle a ribeye like this thing can.
Also, camp slippers. We both have a pair we reserve for camping only. Huge lifestyle upgrade.
We've definitely gotten very attached to our Scout. We always call it our firstborn. We're scout people, you know?
- Lindsey
Doug: Duct tape (laughs). That and zip ties can fix many issues out on the trails. We also found an Amazon mattress that fits the back of the Scout, and that has been a lifesaver when the weather turns bad.
This one is more of a vehicle modification, but we’re in love with it: We threw some inverters under the passenger seat a few years ago. Now we never worry about dead batteries, no matter how long we’re out in the wilderness — stuff just charges all day while we drive.
And lastly, a good blanket. We grabbed one from Aeronaut Outdoors. In milder weather, it’s so nice not to be locked in a heavy mummy bag.
Lindsey: We travel pretty light, though, overall.
Q: WHY DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE SUCH AN ATTACHMENT TO YOUR SCOUT AFTER ALL THESE YEARS?
Lindsey: We’ve definitely gotten very attached to our truck. We always call it our firstborn. We’re scout people, you know? We recently bought another Scout that we’re building. So we wouldn’t make the switch to anything else at this point. Sometimes I fantasize about having a modern vehicle that would be a little, uh, less temperamental (laughs). I mean, at this point our Scout is pretty dialed in.
We have so many memories in that truck, and they are some of my favorite memories. The community is also incredible. We’ve made so many friends just driving a Scout, which sounds weird, but it’s such a conversation starter. Like, every gas station you go to, someone wants to tell us a story of their dad’s first Scout or how they learned to drive in a Scout. You really make a lot of friends quickly driving a more interesting vehicle.
Q: SO, ANY ADVICE FOR US AS WE WORK TO BRING THE SCOUT BACK TO MARKET?
Lindsey: Just a few things (laughs)…
Doug: I would say if it’s going to look modern, make it easy to mod and retain some of the more boxy retro looks. Everything is so slopey and round and marshmallowy now. And I think a lot of people and a lot of other people are probably gonna want something that looks rugged. We’re gonna want to be able to more easily tie it back to the original look.
Lindsey: I’d like to be able to cut the fenders to accommodate travel and larger tires. Basically I want to put 40s on it. And in general, like Doug said, it would be awesome if it were easy to modify. It sounds like you guys are already focused on real-deal, off road capability. But we like to push things…
I also think it would be cool to accommodate sleeping in the back, for all of us out there who don’t do rooftop tents.
Lastly, what if you guys got involved in the fight to keep our trails open? You could support groups that push back against closures, do trail cleanups, and open new trails. Right now – across the country you have these small, grassroots organizations raising money for lawyers — and otherwise completely powered by volunteers. Having the weight of Scout behind the offroad community would make a huge difference; and mean so much to so many people. Right now it’s David vs. Goliath.
Q: ANY SHOUTOUT TO PEOPLE ALONG THE WAY?
Lindsey: A: Everyone from IH Southwest — the guys who put the event together and everyone we met there. We’re constantly amazed at how welcoming this community is. It’s full of really great people, and we’re so proud to be a part of it.
Also, some of the brands that support us (which we also happen to love):
Toyo Tires, KC Lights, Raceline Wheels, Corbeau, Anything Scout, Chama Chairs, Poler.
Doug: Robert’s Custom Trucks. It’s so hard to find honest people. He’s just been like a guardian angel, a friend to us, and someone I just can’t speak highly enough of. He does amazing work.
Q: WE APPRECIATE YOU GUYS TAKING THE TIME TO CHAT WITH US AND LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING AND HEARING MORE ABOUT YOUR ADVENTURES IN THE FUTURE!
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