Work seems to be the only word in Rusty Megois’ vocabulary. Owner of Rusty’s Off-Road in Rainbow City, Alabama, Rusty shares the friendships that have helped him through the changes in the industry.
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3:12– a neighbor started fueling the fire for being outdoorsl
8:34 – I try to push my guys to do more and do better
14:50 – I just brought more knowledge that I was acquiring on the west coast back home
26:37 – and thank God, along came the XJ Jeep Cherokee
36:52 – I understand you have a building where projects go to die…
41:40 – if I can’t have too many Jeeps, then she can’t have too many diamonds
1:04:25 – right now the biggest thing we’re adding is more robots for welding
1:25:28 – we all work way too damn much
We want to thank our sponsors Maxxis Tires and 4Low Magazine.
TRANSCRIPT
[00:01:20.050] – Big Rich Klein
On today’s episode of Conversations with Big Rich, we have Rusty Megois. Rusty is Rusty’s offroad. Rusty’s off road has been around for quite a few years. We’ll talk about that with Rusty and where his business has come from and where it’s going to in the future. So, Rusty, I want to say thank you very much for coming on board and spending some time. And I know that time is of the essence nowadays, trying to keep everything going because it’s the off road world and things are busy.
[00:01:53.890] – Rusty Megois
It is quite busy. Rich. Yeah. I appreciate you and invite me to have a talk with you. And it just takes a couple of times to get this to work out, but glad to be doing it.
[00:02:07.560] – Big Rich Klein
Yeah. So let’s start right off. Where were you born and raised?
[00:02:13.150] – Rusty Megois
I was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and pretty much raised in probably in the suburbs of Birmingham within a 50 miles loop at times and pretty much stay there just about my whole life did one little outspurt towards Tennessee, but most everything’s been right here, right here, close to home.
[00:02:40.480] – Big Rich Klein
All right. So at that point was pretty rural. If you’re outside of the Birmingham city area.
[00:02:49.870] – Rusty Megois
It can once you go outside the city limits and start going out more than probably 10 miles, yet it starts kind of turning rural after that pretty quick.
[00:03:00.990] – Big Rich Klein
So you got to spend a lot of time outdoors in the woods.
[00:03:05.080] – Rusty Megois
Yes.
[00:03:06.910] – Big Rich Klein
And what was your primary interest as you were growing up?
[00:03:12.910] – Rusty Megois
Well, as a kid, I would say a real young kid, I guess every young kid you want to play football and do all that. I did that a good little bit growing up. And I got hurt arm hurt really bad and decided that maybe this wasn’t what I wanted to do. And I had a neighbor that I showed some interest in going hunting with him. And so he invited me to go with him. And that kind of started fueling a fire of, you know, going out and even being an outdoors more. And it seemed like if it was wintertime, I wanted to go out and tromp through the woods with my gun. And then if it was summertime, I still wasn’t driving then. And I was going backpacking and just the surrounding woods that was around where I lived.
[00:04:11.450] – Big Rich Klein
Right. And through school were you played football? I would imagine in school. Then high school.
[00:04:23.910] – Rusty Megois
I went to junior hight That’s when I got hurt. And then after that, I kind of dislike the sports alone or the in school sports. I’m still a big football fan and everything, but I said I hurt my right arm really bad. And after that, I said it was just enough.
[00:04:41.510] – Big Rich Klein
Right. Makes sense.
[00:04:42.910] – Rusty Megois
And I wasn’t a very tall person. I was five nine. I would probably five nine in junior high and real scrawny kid. So I had a lot more against me anyhow.
[00:04:55.250] – Big Rich Klein
Especially with those Alabama boys.
[00:04:58.670] – Rusty Megois
Yeah. They grown bigger today, I guess. I don’t know what it is, but yeah, I just wasn’t one of that bunch that got the size and the thickness and everything. Like they need to play football down here in Alabama.
[00:05:13.220] – Big Rich Klein
Right. So your shop right now is in Rainbow, right outside of Gadston, is that correct?
[00:05:23.030] – Rusty Megois
That is correct, yeah. Rainbow City and Gadstone are basically two towns, but you can drive from one and don’t even realize you’re driving from one to the other. And then you even have a little community called Italy that is all right here together. But we’re 40 miles from the Birmingham airport.
[00:05:43.930]
Okay.
[00:05:47.910] – Big Rich Klein
How did your interest in hiking and hunting and being in the outdoors? How did that turn into off road?
[00:05:57.270] – Rusty Megois
Well, as wanting to go hunting and everything. Of course, every kid wants to get his driver’s license. And once you got your driver’s license, I wanted a truck, a Jeep, something where I could still get in the woods, whether it was just going up to the local highest point in Alabama, just to go up there and go wheeling or to go up there to go hiking or to go up there and go hunting or whatever the situation. And so I started off with a 71 Chevy pickup is what I started off with. And I learned a lot with that truck. But that’s how it all started right there. And that was just to get out and to go just get out and go more into the outdoors. READ MORE
