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It all begins with a rainy day in Portland, a dead alternator, and a stranger delivering a tool kit. From that rainy day in Portland a friendship sparked that lasted through different states, crazy sports, motherhood, and travel. However, we are about to embark on our most ambitious adventure yet!
After that first meeting in that parking lot and hoping the alternator they bought was going to work, the adventures of Trista and Karisa had only just begun.
About a year after their first introduction Trista talked a naive Karisa into signing up for her first triathlon, without her fully understanding what a half-iron distance really meant, and especially the Wildflower triathlon, which just so happens to be the hardest half iron in the United States. After months of training both completed and rocked it and went on the complete many triathlons after that!
Trista also talked Karisa into a 24hr mountain bike race, Karisa agreed, even though she had never ridden one before. Once again both ladies rocked it and after making it to the finish line Karisa never picked up a mountain bike again.
Then Trista and family bought and kitted out a new Toyota 4Runner. After many successful off-road trips and even a few reconnaissance missions to fuel hungry cyclists with charcuterie on logging roads they fell in love with off-roading!
Trista invited Karisa to attend the 2018 Northwest Overland Rally where they were introduced to amazing vendors and companies involved with off-roading. That’s where they first learned about Rebelle Rally. From then on they were convinced that they would one day be a team ready to run the Rebelle!
The Shop, Bruce Titus Port Orchard Ford, Circuit of the Northwest, Rally Innovations, No Drill Roof Rack by Spider, Motofish, Gear Off Road, Falken Tires, and Avants.
Executive Director of Household Management
Port Orchard, WA
“In the beginning all was love. Put the thoughts of all we love into all we create. Thus every day is the beginning.” - Merlin the stone cutter
After college I worked at a seahorse farm in Kona, Hawaii. They raised captive bred seahorses to sell for aquariums, that way eliminating the need for wild caught seahorses. I would give tours of the farm and visitors would be able to have seahorse wrap around their finge
I first learned about Rebelle at the 2018 NW overland rally. I had never heard of anything quite like the Rebelle and the openness and welcoming spirit that the Rebelle offered was something that I had never experienced in motorsport. The thought of being able to go out on this epic offroad adventure was something that I had never thought about doing, but the Rebelle Rally staff made me believe in myself and that I would be capable of competing in this kind of event! I knew that I couldn’t sign up right away since my husband and I were planning on building a family and we didn’t own a vehicle that would be able to run the rally. After having two little girls and buying a 2021 Bronco Sport First Edition, I knew it was the right time! My teammate and I signed up the first day registration opened to the public and here we are! We have spent this year diving in deep with off-road driving and navigation training and feel that we have done the best to our ability to prepare and be ready to embark on this exciting journey!
I am truly inspired by all the women who I have met in the motorsport and off-road community. It has been absolutely incredible to see how women are now being lifted up in this field and supported by a community of businesses and companies. To see these women who have really set the stage for the Rebelle Rally to actually exist is truly inspiring. I am also extremely inspired by my husband who is continually supporting and encouraging me to go beyond my comfort zone and to do cool things. It is inspiring to watch the way he interacts with our girls and involves and includes them in every discipline. There will nothing that will stop them from doing what they want because of their gender!
Cocomelon, Paw Patrol, Peppa PIg
I have had so many fun adventures, but one special one comes to mind. In 2018 my husband, Rhys and I took our 1956 Porsche 356 on an epic road trip, driving and camping across the US. We started in Washington state and headed east across the top of the country. We didn’t make far before we smelled an awful electrical smell. In 1956 not many things were electrical. We made it to Wyoming before we realized that our generator, the thing that charges the battery, had failed and so the battery was boiling. We were unable to get a replacement generator so we went and bought a spare battery and headed on our way. We tried our best not to use anything that would drain power from the battery. It was push starts, hand turn signals and not driving at dark from there on out! We made it to Virginia and headed down the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Outer Banks in North Carolina, and basked in the white sands and blue ocean of the Atlantic. We headed out of the area towards Louisiana with hurricanes right behind us, but managed to time everything right. Our little red car was a sight to see, we would pull into these campgrounds to the disbelief of our neighbors and pull quite the little campsite out of the front of our tiny little red bathtub of a car! We made it through the deserts of New Mexico and Nevada, up the Oregon coast and back to Washington. We covered 10,000 miles in one month and loved every mile of it!
I work for the Hearing, Speech and Deaf Center in Seattle, WA in the ASL Interpreting Services Department as a Continuing Education Specialist.
I am a 5th generation Washingtonian who currently lives 100% on the road with my family of 3 in a converted Amazon Cargo Delivery Van, who we have lovingly dubbed “Tsu” for Tsunami.
“Injustice anywhere is a treat to justice everywhere.” - MLK
My family owned and operated a Go-Kart Track for 30 years. So, you could say driving in circles is in my blood.
Why the Rebelle? My teammate, Karisa and I have had a long and funny history of challenging ourselves with seemingly out-of-reach events, including 24 hour mountain bike races, half-ironman triathlons, and other sorts of endurance-related nonsense. On a whim, we had attended the NW Overland Rally in Plain, Washington in 2018 together and decided to attend a Rebelle Info Session. Karisa declared we would do the Rebelle one day. I assumed it was a half-hearted declaration, but it turns out I was wrong! Since the declaration, she proceeded to have a couple babies, but as soon as they were old enough, she found a renewed sense of interest for the event, and we challenged ourselves to sign up for the 2022 edition! Why now? As wives and mothers, I don’t know if I believe there is such a thing as “the right timing”, as each year brings its own challenges and 2021 certainly brought us ours. For starters, Karisa delivered a healthy baby girl the first week of May. Ironically, that same week, I found myself in a mountain bike accident that seriously broke my right leg and landed me at the Trauma Center for a week. After several surgeries and physical therapy that lasted the whole summer, I started to walk on my own in October – just in time for my teammate to register us for the 2022 Rebelle (even though she had a new 5 month old!). As it turns out, there’s never a great time to lean into something hard and new, but it’s always worth it, and we have already banked a ton of amazing memories in the training and lead-up to this life-changing race.
I love to read, specifically Historical Fiction, Biographical Memoir, and Social Justice. It is in the stories of hardship, war, and adversity that I find inspiration in what people are capable of and challenge myself to grow into the person the world, my family, and I need.
Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me
Anything written by Tim Egan: The Big Burn, The Worst Hard Time, Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher, etc.
Holy Post Podcast
Navigating Adulthood, Taxes, Homeownership, Raising a Child, and now Van Life alongside my Partner for Life, Tyler.