Wow that is awesome.
Padre Island National Seashore at sunrise–
Thank you Ted. It would have been a good weekend to redeem Padre Island National Seashore for you and Carla. We needed more breeze from about midnight to mid morning to keep the bugs away–
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is about as tranquil a setting as you can ask for. Great picture, Bruce! Very jealous as I toil away in my windowless building this work week...
Padre Island National Seashore at sunrise–
Thank you. It was a peaceful this past weekend along the Gulf. Thank you, Matt, for your service and the work you likely do still today. I am sure we need men and women working in a windowless building or two, especially in uncertain times–And that, ladies and gentlemen, is about as tranquil a setting as you can ask for. Great picture, Bruce! Very jealous as I toil away in my windowless building this work week...
Someday, Bruce, someday... Not too far out now... But thank you for your kind words. V/R, Matt
NiceFinally got a chance to go somewhere that offroading isn't illegal: Windrock in Tennessee...
On the main trail, there's a hairpin curve. It has an obstacle that bypasses that curve. Doesn't look like much in pics vs in real life, but it did have me thinking that it was more difficult than someone an hour into their 1st real offroading should be doing. Especially when I turned around and went back down it and the Jeep was nearly standing on its nose. Fortunately, I had Kevin from Litebrites words in my mind: "better to roll through it, than to panick brake and flip forward".
Found a waterfall in trail #4, which is rated 4/10. I saw a lot of spots where other vehicles were picking lines, but my Jeep just drove straight through without a care.
Went back a couple days later with my wife and all of our luggage. We were done in Knoxville and on our way to Nashville, but i wanted to get another several hours in Windrock. I can't recall if it's trail #21 or #22, but it starts with a small wooden bridge right behind the general store. It's rated 5/10 and is about 6 miles long. It was very fun, with a lot of long steep muddy climbs. About half way through, we stopped at a scenic stream crossing to stretch our legs and take in the surroundings. Unfortunately, this is the only chance I had at picture taking...
As soon as we started moving again, I realized the cardinal rule that I had broken when I saw the miles to empty counter was reading "Low". Only time in the past that I ran the tank so low, it didn't do that until after the mile counter dropped to zero. The actual gage was still reading about a quarter tank, but I wasn't sure which to trust. That's when the fun got replaced with visions of having to walk out of the trail in search of a gas can and a place to fill it. It was already after the general store was closed for the night, and the nearest station was a couple miles away from the couple mile long back road that leads to the trailhead. It would've been an all night affair to get the Jeep running again.
We kept pushing forward, but the trail was finally starting to show its 5/10 rating. Rock gardens running along the stream, that had me starting to have to choose my lines. As soon as I cleared one technical section, another was right out ahead. Definitely fun, but the thoughts of a long walk was sucking out a lot of the enjoyment. We made it a bit further and found the one and only intersecting trail that could've been a perfect shortcut to the main trail out of the park. It was either #21 or #22, but was rated 10/10 and had a sign that read "extremely dangerous". It was at that point where I felt that my Jeep was probably well built for the task, but my own personal experience had a lot of catching up to do. That's when my wife had a great idea. Turn around at that halfway point and end up right beyond the general store at the trailhead, knowing we could backtrack quicker in M2/M3 in low range, rather than continuing in M1 low and ending up deeper in the park at the opposite end of that trail. That's just what we did.
About an hour and a half later, we were at the gas pump and still at 12psi in the tires to save running time (compressor is wired to only run with the engine running), and I was kicking myself for not trusting the actual fuel gage despite the "Low" constantly nagging me. Jeep still had over 5 gallons in it.
Didn't exactly end my 1st offroading on a high note, but still had a blast. I've been craving the trails ever since. We're probably heading down there again this January, so I will definitely hit that trail again for a redemption run. But not before topping off the tank first.
Apologies for all this babble in a picture thread. I'm still riding the high off my first chance to finally use the Jeep that I've been putting together for the last couple years.
Cheers all!
. How did the wife like the offroad experience, is she hooked also?
He, Carla and I will be spending our winter over by Yuma Arizona. We will have to hook up for some wheeling and hiking.
Well, she's not having the offroad withdrawal shakes like me, but she did have enough fun to put the same ear to ear grin on her face as the one I was sporting.Nice
Great to hear she didn’t dislike it, mine would be have fun, call me later
