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The Pit Bull & Jeep Adventures Journal

Kheroux

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So I’ve posted a few odds and ends of my pup Kali and I’s adventures with our 2018 Rubicon Unlimited but I wanted to see what the interest would be for us to have our own adventure thread here. We currently have a fairly small Instagram and YouTube following and you'll see that through our posts but the most important thing for me is just having fun with my dog and Jeep and showing the world how awesome both Pit Bulls and Wranglers are! My goal is to add to the thread as I have time to document our travels and tell our story. Hope you guys enjoy!

So without further adieu, I present you with PB&J Adventures!

Our intro video!



(All of our videos at the moment are created with an app called Quik with copyright free music coming from that app. As for our camera we have a GoPro Hero Session, and an IPhone 7 Plus. Nothing crazy fancy but I personally think that they do the job!)

Our first ever video with the Jeep and Kali was taken at Bluff Point which is a nice 3ish mile walking trail along an inlet of the Thames river (basically the Long Island sound). Obviously not off-roading because let’s face it CT doesn’t have very many legal options but just showing how much Kali loves her new ride was a ton of fun to make:



Our next video was one where I tried to get out on an actual trail with Kali and show some different perspectives that she has while riding and then of course some of the Jeep. Please note that Kali is an awesome sport when I stick a camera actually on her lol:



So far my favorite and our most viewed video is up next! This one happened on a day when I was trying to help my girlfriend study for a big nursing exam that she had the next day but Kali kept on flopping on her notes or computer as a “I need you to love me” kind of thing so to help her study (of course) I offered to take our bored little pup to a new state park that I found. This state park is one of my favorite places to visit now with her and hopefully this video captures some of.the fun that we experience here:

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Kheroux

Kheroux

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A little more background on Kali and I:

Kali:
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We adopted this adorable pup just about two years ago now and she has changed our lives in so many ways!

When it came time to look for our perfect match we always knew that we wanted to go the adoption route. We found Kali in a place called North Eastern Animal Shelter in Salem Mass. She wasn’t on the website so we were going in blind and just saw online that they had a few newly arrived puppy’s and when we called to ask they said yeah sure, they look “pitty”. So with that little information we went for it!

When we got there the place had a ton of kennels with green cards on them that if they were still on the door that meant that they were adoptable. If they weren’t that meant that someone was in line for seeing them or that they were already adopted. We walked past a few pups and then when we rounded the corner I saw her! This little white and grayish brown floppy pup that had was just making eye contact with us sitting perfectly still. We went right to her and she immediately came up and started wiggling around all goofy trying to get us to pet her and I wasn’t paying attention to anything else but how adorable this little floppy Pit Bull was. It wasn’t until I got a very determined knock on my shoulder by a little girl next to me that I realized sadly that this pups card was taken and this little girl next to me all of a sudden turned into some M Night Shyamalan character and said in the weirdest voice “she’s ours back off! We’re seeing her next.” Startled for just flashing back to 2002 when the Ring came out I didn’t know what to say other than don’t kill me so I just said “uh oh... okay...” and then her mom came up with 5 more kids and two dogs and took the pup out of the kennel. After my girlfriend and I came to our senses we immediately rushed to the front desk and asked if the grudge and her family weren’t a match would we be able to see her and thankfully the receptionist said yes. So finally after 2 hours we saw the little girl and her family leave but thankfully they didn’t have the pup in tow! Relieved we ran back and saw her and within 30 minutes the adoption match maker lady said that she saw a strong bond with her and were the right fit! I guess the big family scared the hell out of Kali (formerly know as bubbles) and it took her over an hour to come out from behind a bench :/

Kali’s first week home was definitely a learning experience. You could tell that she was so happy to be out of the shelter and somewhere that wasn’t concrete but she was definitely super unsure of everything. We learned when we adopted her that she came from Georgia where she was found by herself in a dump and some of her quirks definitely match that! For one, she eats everything, literally everything. Walking by some grass “yeah I want that”, dirty towel thing on the ground “yum”, see that weird brown object that looks like it’s been there for a year “aged fine cheese”. So that was a hard thing to over come lol but that was only once she came out from under the bed! For the first night she was overwhelmed by all of the new and she hit under the bed for hours. I remember dozing off laying next to her and then I woke up to a little tug and tearing noise. Kali finally came out from under the bed! She also had my pillow! I was going to be like woah lady drop the good but then I didn’t want her to freak and run under the bed again. So I offered a trade, her little dragon stuffed animal that she came home with for my pillow. Thankfully she accepted and she then slowly but surely learned that our place was safe an it was home :)

Below is a little video of her progress featuring our other pup Dewey would is also the love of our lives but due to a few hardships of old age, he can’t make it out for every adventure (but boy does Kali sure keep him young with plenty of tug of war!)



Also more adorable pics:

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Kheroux

Kheroux

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How I got the Jeep Bug:

When I was a teenager I grew up watching movies like the fast and the furious so naturally my first car looked a little something like this....

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I know... I know embarrassing... it’s okay you can continue laughing... but at the time that car was the dream haha. Eventually that dream uh blew up. The transmission that is... Honda’s, reliability... 102k on the clock... perfect.

ANYWAYS... Fast forward a few years of maturity (well not totally) and a few cars later to when I’m a sophomore in college. I just got my motorcycle license and I bought a Ninja 250.

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Long story short, about 6 months into owning the bike, I was coming home from work and going around a pretty sharp right handed corner when a truck in front of me decided it would be a great time to not put on his blinker and turn onto a street at the apex of the turn. Little to my knowledge the guy driving who must have been missing an arm (not hitting his blinker) was also blind because a car was coming around the corner in the other lane! He hit is breaks, the truck hit theirs and now wouldn’t you know it, there is now a white wall of Ford F-150 in front of me... needless to say I dumped the bike (right hand turn, breaks are on right side, all weight on the breaks, and yeah the breaks on the 250 didn’t stand a chance) but thankfully I was able to do so into the grass and I only sustained some minor injuries.

After that incident I kind of realized two things, one I need a bike with better breaks, and two sometimes you need that open air feel without the risk.

So I sold my Eclipse, I guess I was still living the Tokyo Drift dream:

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And picked up this beauty!

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That Jeep and I had a hell of a time! I loved having a vehicle that could go anywhere, do anything, and put a smile on your face even if you’re just putting around town.



I owned that Jeep for the rest of my time in college and then eventually parted ways with it once I was a few months into my engineering career and saw this at a local dealership:

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I wanted to go fast again and this, unlike my first car was the fast and the furious dream.

I drove this car for about a year and uh well let’s just say that got expensive... what you can’t see in the pictures is that this car had over 500 break horse power and was an absolute monster! As they say though... “with great power comes great” financial irresponsibility. And eventually I had enough and decided to save money, sell the Evo, get an economy car for a little while and then go back to what I loved more than going fast in the first place, a Jeep!

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MrEMan1287

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Great story telling. I'm not much of a video watcher, so I I skipped those, but I really enjoyed reading your posts. I was once inspired by the fast and the furious too, so I get it. I still like to go fast, but I'm loving the jeep life too.

You've got a good looking rig and with that great story telling, I'm looking forward to reading about the next adventure and see how your jeep progresses
 
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Kheroux

Kheroux

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Great story telling. I'm not much of a video watcher, so I I skipped those, but I really enjoyed reading your posts. I was once inspired by the fast and the furious too, so I get it. I still like to go fast, but I'm loving the jeep life too.

You've got a good looking rig and with that great story telling, I'm looking forward to reading about the next adventure and see how your jeep progresses
Thank you! Glad you like the story telling. At first I was worried that it was too much detail but I mean hey, its there for those that are interested and then those that aren't can just check out the pictures and videos lol.
 

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Kheroux

Kheroux

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So! Our most recent adventure video was taken with a loaner JLU sport due to our Rubicon being in the shop for a check engine light :(. The light has been resolved now but it was definitely a gut punch when I saw it. Turns out there is an engineering notice out there for Jeeps that have the light come on with the code pointing towards "bad fuel." The notice said something along the lines that certain fuel pumps and or fuel pump control modules were having issues so if all of the wiring going to the pump and module are good, replace the affected components. Since being replaced we did have one more light come on that did freak me out A LOT because I thought that there was something way worse happening but it just turned out that that light was for a evap leak that was a result of a loose connection from when they worked on the fuel pump so that was solved very quickly.

Anyways... back to the story! Well kind of... before our adventure I wanted to see how difficult it would be to take the hard top off of a Jeep never having owned a hardtop and see how intuitive it would be and let me tell you... I am very glad that I have a soft top! Maybe I would think differently if I had my own garage where I could get a top lift and do that whole thing but I've always just loved the simplicity involved in the soft top where you can just take it up and down whenever you want with only one person. Taking the hard top off with on person (and well Kali for moral support) was not easy:



The part not shown in that video was putting the top back on... Holy hell! I did not factor in having to get under the hardtop when it was laid down on the ground and then getting it up over my head to then get aligned back on the Jeep. Definitely poor planning on my part! Alternatively though I did ask the girlfriend for some assistance at one point when she had a study break and we both found that the grip points on the hardtop to be picked up evenly were very harsh and sharp on the hands. After a few fumbles that way I just opted for the "when in doubt throttle out" mentality, crawled under it and slowly lifted it over my head. I would not recommend this method lol.

What did make all of that messing around with getting the top back on was the adventure before doing so! Please see the video below for a longer version than what was shown in the above video of our awesome adventure with the Sport! For this trip to Salk Rock we focused more on the walking trails after bumping around on the dirt roads the park has to offer as we didn't get pushed out of the park by a freak thunderstorm this time around. Hopefully you guys enjoy the video as much as we did making it!



And for those that prefer pictures:

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Kheroux

Kheroux

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So.... our only real modifications are to our antenna which actually turned into two different antenna brands as shown below:


Our first antenna bothered the hell out of us because it kept on springing against the Jeep at highway speeds so we changed it out for a Ronin antenna and we couldn’t be happier.

But otherwise what would you guys recommend for a solid first few mods?
 

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So.... our only real modifications are to our antenna which actually turned into two different antenna brands as shown below:


Our first antenna bothered the hell out of us because it kept on springing against the Jeep at highway speeds so we changed it out for a Ronin antenna and we couldn’t be happier.

But otherwise what would you guys recommend for a solid first few mods?
Does radio work for you with this ronin antenna? My little cousins chose this for their birthday present for me. Once I installed it none of my radio stations worked anymore. Static, static, and more static.
 

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Maybe a storage bag for under the back seats or some grab handles? Never hurts to have more places to jam gear and stuff.
 
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Kheroux

Kheroux

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Does radio work for you with this ronin antenna? My little cousins chose this for their birthday present for me. Once I installed it none of my radio stations worked anymore. Static, static, and more static.
I honestly never use just the radio but I did today to see how it was and I was still able to pick up a fair amount of channels on the highway when I was driving into work but I’m sure it’s definitely not as good as it used to be.
 

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Kheroux

Kheroux

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Maybe a storage bag for under the back seats or some grab handles? Never hurts to have more places to jam gear and stuff.
I guess I lied with the whole “only mod” thing lol. I do have a mole bag behind the drivers seat in which I have some medical supplies and what not but yeah I could definitely use another one for dog gear.

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I also have a super strong flashlight on the other side with the Jeep tool kit and a few harbor freight moving blankets to help keep Kali’s hair out of some of the fabric

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And finally I did add a rugged ridge tow hitch a while back but no wiring yet.

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https://www.4wheelparts.com/p/smittybilt-trail-gear-bag-black-2726-01/_/R-DSBP-2726-01

I snagged this bag for under my back seats. The hinge opening at the top allows it to compress pretty well so I can fit a fair amount of everyday essentials (read as foldable water bowls and retractable leashes) and still fold my back seats down with the bag stored under them. Price isnt outrageous either, but honestly if I had to do it again, I might just buy another impact bit driver and use the Dewalt storage bag for the same purpose. Never hurts to have more tools and a freebie option!
 
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Kheroux

Kheroux

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https://www.4wheelparts.com/p/smittybilt-trail-gear-bag-black-2726-01/_/R-DSBP-2726-01

I snagged this bag for under my back seats. The hinge opening at the top allows it to compress pretty well so I can fit a fair amount of everyday essentials (read as foldable water bowls and retractable leashes) and still fold my back seats down with the bag stored under them. Price isnt outrageous either, but honestly if I had to do it again, I might just buy another impact bit driver and use the Dewalt storage bag for the same purpose. Never hurts to have more tools and a freebie option!
Haha so funny that you bring up the Dewalt storage bag. I just bought a sander and it came with a super nice one so I’ll definitely be using that for the Jeep and an old one that I had kicking around for the sander!
 
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One thing that I really want for the Jeep but just can’t rationalize spending $200 dollars on is a tailgate table. I’ve been doing some research on building one and started doing a view drawing on what I need to do it but I’m thinking something like this that I was able to find on YouTube.



Only trouble is that our tailgates aren’t as flat with all of the plastic back their and they’re uh aluminum.

What I’m thinking is to utilize all of the same bolt holes that Jeep provides for their Mopar table and then putting some type of metal bar across the top to hang the table ropes from and also give the table something magnetic to stick to if I pop a magnet on the table itself. As for the hinge for the bottom I’m thinking I’ll have to again use the lower holes for the mopar option and then make another backing bar bolted up to that, counterbore or sink the holes so the bolts sit flush and then attach a 20” or 30” piano hinge to that bar for the table. If anyone else has tried this please feel free to share!
 
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Gotta love when an adventure takes a turn for the better! Most of the time when I’m looking for a new place to take Kali for a hike I either just pop in a google search for “hiking near me” or use an app called AllTrails. For Sunday’s adventure I used AllTrails and found a trail called Mukluk Old Road Loop and decide to give it a go.

Here is what I expected to find:

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Instead when I got to there, the road that I was driving on turned into a wide gravel/dirt road that led off into the woods. Excited that I found another place to get my Jeep dirty I plunged on in to the woods and this is what I found!



It looks like the “old road loop” actually used to in fact be a road (go figure). In the time that Kali and I were there we basically did the right half of the trail shown below but I’m pretty positive looking back at google maps that there is definitely more adventure to be had for another time so we can actually find the waterfall that originally drove me to pick this trail! If we do go back I’ll be sure to document it and show you guys what I find! All and all though I’m very happy with the find and can’t wait to go back. Adventures like these are the main reason I love owning a Jeep. The world really opens up when you can just hop in your vehicle and find somewhere that you’ve never been before in your own backyard. It really goes to show that you don’t need to hop on a plane to travel and see something unique and new!

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Some pictures for those who don’t want to sit through my talking in the video

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