Confessions of a Mall Crawler

[Dkretden]

::bows to OP::
Well done, Sir. Well done!

Sponsored

 

[Krondor]

Well written.

They are good getting to and from work, groceries, the movies, and adventures in the hills. Enjoy yours, whatever you do with it. Jeep's are so damn good at moving the soul.

Salud!

 

[Maverick909]

Fun read, well put. Glad your enjoying your Jeep in your own way because frankly that’s what jeepin is all about!

 

[HealthRebel]

Great story!!! Thanks for posting and welcome! As you have witnessed, this forum has a ton of great information and ideas.

"Middle-aged office professional"... hmmm... not sure what that is or what age it refers to. I'm 61, professional, (at least my patients think so), and still consider myself young and able to physically do (most) everything I have always done. If I am "middle aged", then shhhhhh... please don't tell me! Lol! To me, I'm just a big kid in his 6th decade of life!

Just ordered my 2020 JLRU on 07-11-19. This will be my 3rd Wrangler. There is just something about a Jeep Wrangler that gives you an adventurous feeling like no other vehicle can. I urge you to take it out on some trails and feel that inner kid come out. When you do, glance in your rear-view mirror and witness that amazing smile! Cheers!!!

 

[NavyChief]

Anyone else read that in Morgan freemans voice in Shawshank redemption? Very well written

 

[melendez69]

 

[melendez69]

.

I made a deal for the Sport and drove it home...

I don't see a pic...

 

[FiveMagics]

Great post, welcome to the club! Be careful with those ice cream cones and the top down!

Ps: need pics

 

[HoundDude]

best post ever!!!

and it's always better late than never, glad you found your happy place.

 

[obwahn]

That was truly awesome. Thanks for the great read. Welcome and enjoy.

 

[Aranimus]

What a terrific post! It really does capture the feeling that my wife and I have every time we get in our Jeep (2 door JL soft top). Top down all summer, and damn if a trip to the grocery store isn't great fun! I mean if you dream about a convertible? I can't imagine anything better (ok well, for sports car fans I suppose there's the new Corvette!) Still, for sheer awesomeness, the Jeep is really hard to beat. One of the best purchases I've made for sheer joy, and I'm cheap! No regrets!

 

[DrDee]

I am a middle-aged office professional from a middle-sized city in the middle of America. Last fall I was due to trade in my Bland Crossover SUV-wagon Thing (tm) and was looking at replacements. You know, Volkswagen Atlas, Ford Edge, that kind of thing. I was bored. For months I postponed test drives of New Bland Crossovers, and was paging through the auto section of the Saturday paper when I saw it: A Black Wrangler. The music swelled, my heart raced, I grabbed the Mrs. and we went for a test drive of an 18 JLU Sport.

The salesman was pointing out the different trim levels and the off-road-iness of each. The missus pointed out that I am a middle-aged office professional and a dedicated indoorsman, and I really had no business with Gigantor All-Terrain Rock Eater 9000 tires and a preposterous recovery jack across the hood. We might, now and then, travel a gravel road to visit a winery to attend a wedding but that was as gnarly as I would predictably get. This was a persuasive argument. We would not be looking at Sahara or Rubicon.

I made a deal for the Sport and drove it home. I put it, bone stock, on instagram and was immediately jeered for my midlife crisis. I found this forum, found some vendors you found reputable, and put some side steps on the thing that made it look a little more finished. I loved driving it - it's even by Sport standards, fairly light on options, but it was less expensive than the Blands I had been looking at, and it said "utility" in a way that the Blands could only whisper.

As it was the fall, I got the freedom panels off a couple of times and thought that was just nifty. A brutal middle of America winter came and my JLU was a stouthearted ally in the piles of snow. I remembered, from my dad's old Grand Wagoneers (wish I had one of those now!) the difference between 4WD and AWD, particularly when I made a tight turn on cleared pavement.

I found myself longing for spring, wondering what it would be like to get the whole lid off. I admit the eight bolts and two ready disconnects were a bit daunting, and the Missus and I do not communicate well when we are carrying something heavy like a $3000 hard top. Daughter, a budding engineer, found YouTube videos of a ratchet strap system from which to suspend the top, and my life changed.

We go for ice cream on balmy summer nights when the warm air turns the sunset sky to cotton candy.
I found myself making little mods. Door sill protectors, upgrading the stock speakers. My son, who works in a Tire Emporium, offered me the friends-and-family on a set of Gigantors, but I demurred long enough that he bought me a set of LED halo headlights for Father's Day and we installed them together.

The wife suggested a soft top so we could vacation and range without worry of the weather. I, a long way from being cowed by eight bolts and two disconnects, assembled it with a minimum of cussing.

I'm a dedicated Jeep Wave guy. Two off the wheel when the Jeep is dressed, down and away when the doors are off. Bone stock, rad Mud Eater build, you are me and I am you and something about you resonates in me. Some of you must think I'm exactly what I am - an aging Dad trying to wring the last little bit of testosterone out of middle age. Nearly all of you smile and return the salute if you didn't wave first. You're a welcoming sort.

I scared myself half to death on a rutted county road an hour outside of town, but got to the end and laughed my ass off.

I get to the end of my air-conditioned office day and find my new friend waiting for me and I'm legitimately thrilled I get to drive this thing home in the summer sun. Even as I suspect the more adventurous of you are giving me a patient, slightly patronizing smile from behind your mud-spattered windshields, the other Office Dads driving their Blands seem to envy me. I am stuck in traffic same as them, the summer sun fighting an epic battle with the jet-engine powered A/C, and I'm grinning like a kid.

You will not see me on the rocky trails of Utah, or the volcanic slopes of Kuai, in my Jeep. You'll see me messing up my beautiful wife's hair in the summer sun in town, or on a sunset cruise with an ice cream cone. And maybe we'll wind up at the same gravel road winery wedding. I know that I am at the mild end of this fraternity, but my only regret is that I did not join it sooner.

Thanks for having me, and thanks for reading.

Outstanding post! Perhaps you could write a book on your adventures of a regular dad/husband and his adventures in his Jeep? I would think it would be a bestseller.

 

[twisty]

I am a middle-aged office professional from a middle-sized city in the middle of America. Last fall I was due to trade in my Bland Crossover SUV-wagon Thing (tm) and was looking at replacements. You know, Volkswagen Atlas, Ford Edge, that kind of thing. I was bored. For months I postponed test drives of New Bland Crossovers, and was paging through the auto section of the Saturday paper when I saw it: A Black Wrangler. The music swelled, my heart raced, I grabbed the Mrs. and we went for a test drive of an 18 JLU Sport.

The salesman was pointing out the different trim levels and the off-road-iness of each. The missus pointed out that I am a middle-aged office professional and a dedicated indoorsman, and I really had no business with Gigantor All-Terrain Rock Eater 9000 tires and a preposterous recovery jack across the hood. We might, now and then, travel a gravel road to visit a winery to attend a wedding but that was as gnarly as I would predictably get. This was a persuasive argument. We would not be looking at Sahara or Rubicon.

I made a deal for the Sport and drove it home. I put it, bone stock, on instagram and was immediately jeered for my midlife crisis. I found this forum, found some vendors you found reputable, and put some side steps on the thing that made it look a little more finished. I loved driving it - it's even by Sport standards, fairly light on options, but it was less expensive than the Blands I had been looking at, and it said "utility" in a way that the Blands could only whisper.

As it was the fall, I got the freedom panels off a couple of times and thought that was just nifty. A brutal middle of America winter came and my JLU was a stouthearted ally in the piles of snow. I remembered, from my dad's old Grand Wagoneers (wish I had one of those now!) the difference between 4WD and AWD, particularly when I made a tight turn on cleared pavement.

I found myself longing for spring, wondering what it would be like to get the whole lid off. I admit the eight bolts and two ready disconnects were a bit daunting, and the Missus and I do not communicate well when we are carrying something heavy like a $3000 hard top. Daughter, a budding engineer, found YouTube videos of a ratchet strap system from which to suspend the top, and my life changed.

We go for ice cream on balmy summer nights when the warm air turns the sunset sky to cotton candy.
I found myself making little mods. Door sill protectors, upgrading the stock speakers. My son, who works in a Tire Emporium, offered me the friends-and-family on a set of Gigantors, but I demurred long enough that he bought me a set of LED halo headlights for Father's Day and we installed them together.

The wife suggested a soft top so we could vacation and range without worry of the weather. I, a long way from being cowed by eight bolts and two disconnects, assembled it with a minimum of cussing.

I'm a dedicated Jeep Wave guy. Two off the wheel when the Jeep is dressed, down and away when the doors are off. Bone stock, rad Mud Eater build, you are me and I am you and something about you resonates in me. Some of you must think I'm exactly what I am - an aging Dad trying to wring the last little bit of testosterone out of middle age. Nearly all of you smile and return the salute if you didn't wave first. You're a welcoming sort.

I scared myself half to death on a rutted county road an hour outside of town, but got to the end and laughed my ass off.

I get to the end of my air-conditioned office day and find my new friend waiting for me and I'm legitimately thrilled I get to drive this thing home in the summer sun. Even as I suspect the more adventurous of you are giving me a patient, slightly patronizing smile from behind your mud-spattered windshields, the other Office Dads driving their Blands seem to envy me. I am stuck in traffic same as them, the summer sun fighting an epic battle with the jet-engine powered A/C, and I'm grinning like a kid.

You will not see me on the rocky trails of Utah, or the volcanic slopes of Kuai, in my Jeep. You'll see me messing up my beautiful wife's hair in the summer sun in town, or on a sunset cruise with an ice cream cone. And maybe we'll wind up at the same gravel road winery wedding. I know that I am at the mild end of this fraternity, but my only regret is that I did not join it sooner.

Thanks for having me, and thanks for reading.

Great post! I am a semi hard core jeeper spending tons of money on upgrades to do trails when I get the chance and they get harder as the jeep progresses.

You have no idea what these things are capable of, but truth be told I have as much fun doing what you are doing as I do on some tuff trails. I felt the same with my WORKED TJ wrangler and this JL is way more fun to just drive.

You dont need to do any hard core trails to just have fun in them.

Have fun and fully embrace your so called mid-life crisis.

 

[terrancewifflespoon]

This post gave me life!

I took the doors/top off the Jeep this weekend and drove south for a triathlon with the gf here in Florida. There just isn't a better vehicle to do that in. Coming over a bridge and seeing the coast and water with the top down is always amazing.

 

[RubiSc0tt]

Welcome to the club, and the forum. You get it. You 100% get it, and it doesn't matter if you never get off road, because you get what being a part of this whole thing is all about. We all start somewhere, and I'm pretty sure most of our reasoning was pretty similar. This was an excellent post.

I also have to say, I get it, albeit from a bit of a different angle. I got my first Wrangler in 2003 when I was 19. a few years later, i starting building. And going on trail rides with a local Jeep group. And building. and breaking. And building. and building some more. Getting more seat time on the trail. Choosing better lines. Following guys with way more built rigs to places that I had no buisness being, with a little TJ on 33's. Doing some Intro to off roading stuff with my Jeep club. I loved all of it.

I worked office jobs. Wrenching was a hobby for me. I ended up buying another vehicle (2, actually) to drive daily. But I would always come back to driving my Jeep. Friday? I should drive the Jeep to work. Snowing? Take the Jeep. Nice day? Take the Jeep. I don't want to get out of bed because I hate this job and it's going to be hell today? I could drive the Jeep- that might make it a little better. I'd peel out of my cubicle containment hell for the day, throw my backpack in my Jeep, pull the top down, and hammer out of the parking lot. Sometimes co-workers and neighbors would ask questions. Some assumed I had money and paid for all the work (I didn't). I'm sure some thought worse of me because I was in the driveway clanking and cursing every 10 minutes for at least 4 hours while trying to fix/ install something. Or I show up to work on Monday and the Jeep is still dirty from the trail I had just been on Sunday. I'd get looks. Some were envious. Some were curious. Some were scoffing. But I didn't care. Those people didn't get it.

Now, approaching middle age, with a wife and a son, and a totally different career in a technical field (fixing machines), I find myself here again- starting over, but this time with a strange new brightly colored Jeep (with 4 doors? what is this?). It may be a Rubicon, but won't see as much trail time as my TJ's did; Not due to lack of wanting, but lack of time thanks to career and family obligations that come first. I've spent money on parts to make it trail ready and I still haven't been on the trail. My wife argued I didn't need this one. I wouldn't be able to go out as often. I'm going to "ruin this Jeep like the last 2"- the last two were old Jeeps, and I was young and... not as wise. I drove them that way for a reason: because I liked pushing the envelope. This is easily the nicest vehicle I have ever owned. Still, I guess She doesn't get it, either.

But your story, the reasons you got a Jeep? Those are the reasons I pulled the trigger on this one, knowing that Even if I can't spend as much time on the rocks in the mountains as I really want to, I'll at least be able to drop the top, and drive home at the end of a long shift. I'll be able to explore a little more. And maybe I'll be able to get back out there more often... with my son. Even though he's only 2, he loves dad's Jeep. He shouts and points out all the Jeeps whenever we are driving. He knows what a winch is and the sound it makes. He "Helped" me install mine last Thursday. He gets it too, I think. And that's reason enough for me.

Sorry for the long post.

Sponsored