Posts Tagged ‘Jeep’

Now, I pride myself on being a pretty smart guy. Sure, I’m no rocket scientist but I do ok.

Occasionally, I’m forgetful or if you are less charitable, prone to boneheaded moves. See here for a move where I ran my brand new laptop over with our Jeep Rubicon.

This morning on the way to work, it was raining and I was organizing a couple of things before jumping in the Jeep and heading to work.

I placed my iPhone on the left rear taillight and got on with my tasks.

I then jumped in said Jeep and toddled off to work through the drizzle. It’s about a 10 minute drive, very pretty, through the back roads of Bentonville, Arkansas. Up hill and down dale, with plenty of twists and turns.

I get out the car, grab the umbrella and my laptop and proceed to pat myself down for my phone and wallet. Wallet was just where it was supposed to be but no iPhone.

I was walking away from the car thinking I must have left it on the counter inside and that, sure, I can deal without a phone for the day.

I then stopped dead in my tracks and said “Oh …. sh*t”

I turned around and looked at the jeep, sitting on the taillight right where I left it was my iPhone.

It was a little damp from the drizzle but works fine.

The $10 silicon sleeve that I use to protect my iPhone is grippy. Grippy enough to hold onto a Jeep in the rain for a 10 mintue drive to work.

Whew.

Shane

Farmington NM – Bluff UT

Day 3 was on the plan as a “free” day. It was only about 4 hours from Farmington, NM to Bluff, UT. We had an idea of a couple of things to go see while in the area but thought we’d play it a little by ear and see if there is some other cool stuff to tack on.

We’d noticed on our last gas stop the day before in Aztec NM a few signs to some ruins and as that wasn’t all that far away and the home of a Starbucks, decided to give it a look.  Turns our the ruins were amazing, a Pueblo settlement some 900 years old.  The amount of ruins still standing is testament to both how well they were constructed and the care that has been taken to preserve them. It’s a shame that there isn’t more funding for the preservation of these time capsules and that more can’t be done to keep them. There are some sections that they’ve buried to help preserve them as there aren’t enough staff or the money to keep and preserve them.

From Aztec we headed to Hovenweep National Monument via Four corners. What is Four Corners I hear you ask? Well, it’s a funky little place where you can stand in four states at the same time. Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah.  We were expecting a sign on the road and a short road to a dusty monument pointing to the spot. What we found was quite different. There were 10′s of people there and a little compound.

We had to pay to get in but in general we don’t mind paying at all. The majority of the fee’s are quite low and the money goes to keeping the monuments in good nick.

Around the edges of the compound were Indian stalls selling all sorts trinkets and jewelry. I ended up getting a couple of arrow head necklaces, one a hand chipped flint and another tiger eye. We also managed to pick up some trinkets for the kids and a bump on my head. Turns out two things were true at this particular stall, the first is that the stones look much more attractive in the sun light and the second one is that the overhang of the roof is 5 ‘ 11″ (I’m 6′ 1″). Not only did I get to see the sparkles of the gold stone in the sun light, I also got to see some stars.

As there was no blood, there was no foul and we carried on.

The trip to four corners was actually a side trip a little out of the way but it was worth it. We ended up having several of those during the trip and each time we found something amazing and spectacular.

Next stop was Hovenweep National Monument. It’s more pueblan ruins, the main differnece being that they are on the edge of a canyon. It’s a self guided exploration trail that’s about 2 miles. It was pushing 100 degrees fahrenheit, but we grabbed some water and headed off. Part of the trek involves going down to the bottom of the canyon and back up the other side. Luckily for us the Ranger let us know that if we were to do the whole thing we should do that side first. Made the rest of the trip much easier.

The ruins were spectacular and in the middle of no where. It’s interesting to see how the buildings were constructed and how they both differed and were similar to the ruins in Aztec.

We enjoyed the air conditioning as we drove to Bluff, Utah,  our jump point for Monument Valley.

Stacey has some photos up at www.myfamilyjeep.com

It was threatening rain and while I had the top up on the wrangler, the windows were safe and sound in the garage. That’s fine, as I had the much lamented mopar cover to keep things mostly dry just in case.

On the way out of the office at the end of the day, Ralph and I were discussing the merrits of the new extenda trunk. Well as we were chatting I put my laptop bag down by the passenger side door as I usually do and then moved to the drivers side to start taking the cover off. Being the good bloke that he is, Ralph started helping me take the cover off. The cover came off in quick order and I stashed it in the extenda trunk while showing Ralph what it was all about and how it just sits in there without any hardware. (that’s because the hardware was missing when it was shipped to us)

After agreeing it was all pretty cool, Ralph toddled off to his sea foam green Yaris and I hopped in the Jeep and got set to roll out. Radio on? Check. Seat Belt on? Check. Phone headset on so that I can talk hands free? Check. OK Good to go.

So I stick it in 1st and turn right, pull out and the car is jacked up in the air! I stop the jeep and look at Ralph who is just off to my right. He’s pointing behind me and I’m wondering what the hell I hit. I jump out of the Jeep and look over to see my laptop bag lying knocked over in the carpart, bleeding protein shake. ( I keep a couple in there for snacks )

I’m thinking to myself that I’ve run over the case enough to lift the left rear of the Jeep in the air and burst protein shakes inside the bag. That’s probably not a good thing for my brand new, 4 week old laptop that is sitting in the same bag.

I tell Ralph, who is asking, that I just ran it over. Is it OK? Asks the ever helpful Ralph? I’m too flustered to check. I stick the bag in the Jeep and let him know I’ll check it when I get home.

The whole way home I have the same flutter in my stomach as you get after an accident or near miss. The last thing I need right now is to order a new Laptop. It would be at least a week before I could go pick it up in Harrison and the one I got was the last newegg.com had in stock.

I made it home in one piece, took the laptop in it’s neoprene suit out of the bag with the power supply, left the rest of the gooying protein mess outside and went in the house. Gingerly took it out of the case, expecting to see a thousand parts fall out. What’s that? It’s in one piece? Nooooo that can’t be right. OK, go sit down and lift the lid. No visible damage, so far so good, will it boot? Yup, no worries.

Turns out I was a very very lucky man. Managed to run over my laptop in a Jeep Wranger and have only a few small marks on the screen, that are only visiable in black screens, to show as the damage.

All in all, I’d chalk that up to one tough laptop.

Cheers,

Shane

My wife Stacey, loves jeeps. I mean we both love jeeps, but she REALLY loves jeeps. When it came time to get a second vehicle in the family there really was only one choice.

We have two children under two, and while there is now a 4 door wrangler out there that would make things easier on us, we wanted a 2006 for it’s sturdier construction.

Long story short, Stacey went out and found, negotiated and bought a fantastic 2006 Red Rubicon Jeep Wrangler.

Merging our love of the outdoors, off road trekking and photography, Stacey has started a blog to document our adventures around the Ozarks and beyond.

You can find it at www.MyFamilyJeep.com