PROFILE: JESSICA KASHOU & JON MUNOZ

For this blog installment, we have something special — not one but two personalities and Leitner Ambassadors, Jessica Kashou and and Jon Munoz, not long after their wedding. We sat down with the newlyweds to hear a bit about their lives and, of course, their trucks.

Jess grew up in Chino Hills in San Bernardino, California and moved down to San Diego, where the couple now live. Jon grew up in El Paso, Texas, and moved out west in 2007 after landing a job with British Petroleum (BP).

Jon’s first truck was a GMC Sierra 1500 that he outfitted with a Leitner Designs Active Cargo System (ACS) Classic rack. The ACS was the first component he bought for his truck. That’s because only rack he found that allowed him to carry his dirt bike without disassembling the rack — the original design intent for the ACS. After the Sierra, Jon drove a Gladiator before eventually upgrading to the third-generation Tundra Limited that you see here.

Unlike Jon, who is a relative newcomer to outdoor exploration, Jess grew up dirt-bike riding and camping with her dad. As an adult, Jess bought a truck to take her dirt bike out. To her dismay, she quickly found that no one she knew wanted to go dirt-bike riding with her.

Though comfortable riding her dirt bike solo, Jess was comfortable with overlanding, camping, and off-roading by herself. So, she built her truck to support her solo off-road adventures. The Leitner Designs ACS Forged became a key component of her build. In addition to the GearPODs, the key features that stood out to Jess, just like Jon, was the rear sliding load bar, which enabled her to haul her dirt bike if she needed to.

Jess and Jon didn’t go camping much in 2024 — their wedding planning dominated their free time. With the wedding behind them, though, they knocked out three camping trips in the last few weeks of the year. And they have dozens more planned for 2025. If you want to follow along with their adventures you can find Jess on Instagram at @redhead_jesss and Jon at @fulldraw_overland.

REDHEAD JESS BUILD LIST:

● 2024 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road
● LEITNER DESIGNS
   ○ ACS Forged Bed Rack
   ○ ACS ROOF Platform Rack
   ○ GearPOD ROOF
   ○ GearPOD XL & GearPOD DUAL
   ○ HydroPOD
● Relation Race Wheels: 17x8.5 RR7H Flow Forms (0 offset)
● Falken Tires: 285/70 Wildpeak AT4Ws
● Peak Suspension: 2.5 DSC coilovers
● Seibon Carbon: carbon fiber hood
● DV8 offroad: centric winch front bumper, pocket fairlead, lower control arm skid plates, rear shock skid plates
● Superwinch: sx10 winch
● Baja Designs: Squadron Sports, 20" S8 lightbar
● Westcott Designs: 20° kick out sliders
● Magnaflow: overland series exhaust system
● SDHQ: A-pillar brackets
● Cali Raised LED: front bed molle system
● Bonobo Products: Front tow hooks, pushtostart button
● Lasfit liner: LED blinker switchbacks, floor mats, bed liner
● Nytop: rear recovery points
● Mountain Hatch: Tailgate insert
● Beat Sonic USA: Encore Alpha Amplifier
● Screen Protech: screen and interior surface protection
● Wet Okole: front and rear seat covers
● @attentiontodetail27: 5-year ceramic coating

JON MUNOZ BUILD LIST:

● 2023 Toyota Tundra TRD OffRoad Limited
● LEITNER DESIGNS
   ○ Active Cargo System Forged Bed Rack 5-6"
   ○ Active Cargo System Roof Over Bed Rack Platform
   ○ Active Cargo System Roof Over Cab Platform
   ○ GearPOD XL
   ○ GearPOD Dual
   ○ HydroPOD
   ○ GearPOD Roof
● Addictive Desert Designs
● Stealth Fighter Winch Front Bumper
● Warn Industries Zeon 12S        Platinum Winch
● Rigid Industries
   ● Radiance Plus Curved 40" Light Bar (Amber Backlight)
   ● DSeries Pods (Flood Amber)
   ● 360Series 4" Pods (Drive Amber Backlight)
   ● Adapt XP (Amber PRO Covers)
   ● Revolve Pods (Amber Backlight)
   ● 65 Degree DC Scene Lights (Amber)
● Garmin PowerSwitch
● Cascadia 4X4 90 Watt Hood Solar Panel
● Victron Energy SmartSolar 75/15 MPPT Charge Controller
● Camburg Engineering Kinetik Series Upper Control Arms (Grey)
● King Shocks 2.5 RR W/ Adjusters Coilover