So it begins Michigan to the Mexico border to Alaska and back. Three JLUR and campers.

[wibornz]

So some mile data so far.

January 4024
February 2065
March 4220
April 4372
May...so far 1098

15779 total miles as of today. Started with a fresh oil change and have changed three times. Changed the air filter before we left and about 5,000 miles ago and two cabin filters. We have rotated the tires before we left and twice since we left.

I had Goodyear do an alignment before we left. They did not tighten up the tie rod nut and it caused some death wobble. Then I rounded out the Allen key in the top of the tie rod making it hard to torque it to the required 125 ft pounds. I set the impact gun to 100 ft pounds and then put an additional half turn on it. My death wobble is gone.

So a big shout out to Steer Smarts. I call them and tell them what I did. They gave me a discount and two day shipped it to me at the post office. FedEx refused to deliver it and sent it back. Steer Smart then next day aired it to the post office the Fed Ex refused to deliver it again. Come to find out, Fed Ex will drop packages off and pick packages up at the post office but will not drop off a package if the post office is the final delivery point.

So Steer Smarts gets the second one back and calls me and tell me what’s going on as I am waiting at the post office each time. Then Steer Smarts take the tie rod end to Post Office and ships it priority mail. I got it today. Steer Smarrs communication and customer service was great as they worked through the shipping mess to ship it to me. Mind you I did not need it, I just like my stuff to be right. In a world of poor customer service from Jeep aftermarket companies, Steer Smarts stands out as an excellent company.

Mind you, I am not pushing a product. I am just saying they are super easy to deal with and you get a person on the phone when you call them. Then they bend over backwards to help resolve problem I was having.


One more company I would like to highlight. Jackery. We use the Jackery 1000 and their 100 watt solar panels just about daily. One of the panels stopped working. I contacted Jackery and they were like no problem, email a video showing that the solar panel is not putting out power and a copy of the panel serial number. So did that and they are shipping me a new panel. Zero fuse. All done via email and super easy process.

Not trying to sell you guys anything, just giving you my experience with Steer Smarts and Jackery. Both companies could give lessons to other Jeep vendors on how to treat people.

Sponsored

 

[wibornz]

So today was a bittersweet sweet day. Yesterday, Gary and Angie told us they were tapping out and heading home. Angie has been sick… not Covid… for the last 11 days. Gary is shore from the Jeeping and hiking. They are just burned out on living out of a camper. We knew they were going to leave next Thursday when we go to Overland Expo West. The wind has been terrible the last six or seven days where we are either in the Jeep or in the small camper at camp because of the wind. At times the wind has been to harsh that we are not able to cook.

So we stayed in a hotel last night had a great dinner in Cottonwood then hung by the pool and soaked in the hot tub.

We drove to the Chapel of the Holy Cross together in Sedona to say our farewell after breakfast.

The girls hugged and cried, Gary and I hugged like brothers do and said our farewells.

I say bittersweet because we will miss them, but now it is just Carla and I and we no longer have to worry about anybody but us. Just down to Team Wiborn.

 

[blnewt]

Nice to hear about Steer Smarts, sounds like a company that deserves all our business
Sorry to hear about your friends having to head back, but GO TEAM WIBORN!

Now that you'll be traveling solo are there any changes in your plans since you won't have anyone out there with you?? Or did you have an idea that it might just be you and the wife finishing this up?

Stay safe!

 

[wibornz]

After We parted ways with Gary and Angie, Broken Arrow trail called out to us. I have watched several videos on youtube about Broken Arrow. All Trails says the average time to run it is three hours. It has been oversold by YouTubers. Does it have some pretty views yes, but in my opinion the views are just okay compared to. Moab. The trail was way easier than I expected.

Anyways If you are in the area it is worthwhile, just not as cool as the YouTube crowd make it out to be.

Views yeah they’re good. But that is to be expected while in Sedona.

 

[wibornz]

Nice to hear about Steer Smarts, sounds like a company that deserves all our business
Sorry to hear about your friends having to head back, but GO TEAM WIBORN!

Now that you'll be traveling solo are there any changes in your plans since you won't have anyone out there with you?? Or did you have an idea that it might just be you and the wife finishing this up?

Stay safe!

With the cost of fuel so high, we knew Bill was not going to be able to continue on as there was no way he could swing it. Gary and Angie bought a 40ft diesel pusher motorhome with four slides

back in the first week of March. Living in teardrop campers is not as easy life. We eat 98% of our meals outside sitting on a bag chair. Morning coffee is almost always in 40 degree weather while we wait for the sun to warm the area. Not to even mention the potty and shower situation into the mix. The struggle is real and the financial strain is real. Bill, Gary and Angie all knew that this trip was Carla and my trip first and that they were along for the ride. Bill didn’t give us much warning when he planned to split off, but we knew he was struggling because he would not do anything near the end of the month but sit in camp so he could save money while we went wheeling. Gary told us a month or so ago that he was heading home after Moab, but they stayed longer because they wanted to explore the Sedona, Cottonwood and Jerome area. They had always kind of planned to tap out before crossing into Canada because they did not want to get vaccinated. So yeah, we kind of knew it was a long shot for them to make it the entire way. Luck is with us as we all parted ways on good terms and will look forward to seeing them all when we get home. Carla is still all in and so am I. We will probably take less risk out wheeling as we will not have someone with us at all times.

Not saying we don’t have days that make us want to go home, just saying this trip is a dream trip that we planned. We are both goal oriented and driven. The good and great days still way out number the days that we struggle so on we go. We say to each other often, “this day has been better than our worst day., and there haven’t been many bad days.”

So definitely more to come.

 

[cornercanyon]

The wind is difficult this year. I have been enjoying southern Utah and the Arizona strip for 40 years. This year my two weeks of wind was an extraordinary challenge at coffee and meal times.

You guys are all troopers and gracious hosts. Godspeed—

 

[306overland]

Thanks for keeping it real Ted and for not sugar coating anything! Carla and you are making memories that most can only dream of! Looking forward to seeing the journey as it unfolds and look me up on return trip home!

 

[roaniecowpony]

Ted,
Sorry to hear your friends aren't still with you. But I'll bet you could drive a lot of your planned trip across the rooftops of all the Jeeps on this forum that are pulling for you and Carla.

 

[wibornz]

Thanks for keeping it real Ted and for not sugar coating anything! Carla and you are making memories that most can only dream of! Looking forward to seeing the journey as it unfolds and look me up on return trip home!

Honestly the toughest thing to deal with by far is the heavy wind. As I typed this , I asked Carla what the toughest thing you had to deal with? She responded with, “The wind, the fucking wind, the unrelenting 30+ mph wind”. The funny thing is the wind just stopped yesterday and it had been great since. Yesterday was probably the best weather day we have had this whole trip.

Truthfully everything else has been fairly easy to manage. Making YouTube videos were a drag though. I have no desire to be YouTube famous or trying to push products. The filming was like trying to herd cats with rabbits. Getting the other four to do what I needed done to was difficult to say the least. For instance flying the drone was a pain. It will fly for about 20 minutes. I would launch it, then one of them would be dragging ass to get in their jeep or I would be 10 minutes into flying a route and someone would bend over so their butt was in the shot or do something to ruin the shot, or if it is a shot of the Jeeps on the move, one person would drive 40 mph and another would drive 10 mph. It was very difficult to get decent drone footage.

Then normal like GoPro footage was tough too. They all had different ideas and different times they wanted to do stuff. I remember when I said okay enough is enough. We were doing the Rocky Gap Trail by Las Vegas and there was a beautiful spot to capture the Jeeps on a curve along a shelf road part of the trail with the snow capped mountains in the back ground. Carla sped ahead, Gary and Angie stopped because they wanted to take pictures and Bill was in a hurry because he wanted to be back in internet service so he could call his girlfriend. I said To myself I am not spend this energy to film this adventure and 20 hours a week to compile files and edit a video while they are out doing cool stuff and I am at camp editing. Bill could have cared less about being in a video, Angie and Gary wanted to be YouTube famous, had shirts made and decals and had ducks with the Adventure Abound YouTube channel on them and told everyone they had a YouTube channel. Herding cats with rabbits. The juice was not worth the squeeze.

At the end of the day, our problems have been relatively mild as far as travel wise and us all getting along. We all had issues that were beyond our control. Angie with a death in the family and her mom being hospitalized. My sisters house burning down. The cost of fuel blowing Bill’s budget up causing him to sit in camp for days on end and eventually sending him home early.

Then Carla’s drama. I have not typed about this yet. We were camping in Big Bend back in January and Out of internet service. We leave and I check our account and Carla’s retirement check did not deposit. We call retirement services and they tell her she is not eligible to retire. They say she only has 24.996 years of service not 25 years of service. So she will not receive her retirement checks or medical benefits. She is devastated. She thinks she has to go back to Michigan and reapply to get her job back. Now I was in management for 25 years doing payroll. I know that her HR has her payroll messed up. Her final check said she had 52079 hours of service. A year of service is 2080 hours so 25 years of service is 52000 hours. She has the required amount of service to qualify for retirement and they have entered her service hours incorrectly before submitting them to the retirement department. It is a mess, high stress for Carla that bleeds over to me because I am the one that told her when she could retire. I know my stuff is correct. After all I have done payroll for 25 years. So it took them until the first week of April to figure out their mistake. You know Covid and everyone works at home thing. They ended up shorting her about a thousand dollars on here last check and found where they made a mistake on her hours and that she was eligible. So then they back paid her retirement check to January. She received her first check April 13th then her first retirement regular check on April 25th. And this is why we don’t live paycheck to paycheck. I had enough in reserve to carry us with out her retirement check. I knew it would get straightened out and they would catch her up eventually, but it was still stressful after every call for four months without them telling her she was eligible and going to get her pension.

The struggle is real. Yet this morning the coffee is exceptionally good and Carla is cooking sausage, with spinach, onion, fresh garlic, cheddar cheese and eggs. The weather is perfect and my free replacement Jackery solar panel is waiting for me to pick it up at Fed Ex. Going to be a great day.

And I know any of us could have ended up like this guy.

Yet we are not.

 

[wibornz]

Ted,
Sorry to hear your friends aren't still with you. But I'll bet you could drive a lot of your planned trip across the rooftops of all the Jeeps on this forum that are pulling for you and Carla.

The other week I told Gary that the thread had like 56,000 views and he said, “How much money are they paying you?” My reply was simple. The same amount that Facebook is paying you for all the post you make about this trip.

It is not about money. It is about the great people on this forum and this thread has enabled me to meet some awesome people.

 

[mini2nut]

Great documentation, thanks for sharing.

I noticed you have the Sunrider option on your hardtop. Any wind buffeting issues? Would you recommend the option? It looks super convenient to experience open top motoring.

 

[NewJLU2019]

The other week I told Gary that the thread had like 56,000 views and he said, “How much money are they paying you?” My reply was simple. The same amount that Facebook is paying you for all the post you make about this trip.

It is not about money. It is about the great people on this forum and this thread has enabled me to meet some awesome people.
[/QUOTE

Honestly the toughest thing to deal with by far is the heavy wind. As I typed this , I asked Carla what the toughest thing you had to deal with? She responded with, “The wind, the fucking wind, the unrelenting 30+ mph wind”. The funny thing is the wind just stopped yesterday and it had been great since. Yesterday was probably the best weather day we have had this whole trip.

Truthfully everything else has been fairly easy to manage. Making YouTube videos were a drag though. I have no desire to be YouTube famous or trying to push products. The filming was like trying to herd cats with rabbits. Getting the other four to do what I needed done to was difficult to say the least. For instance flying the drone was a pain. It will fly for about 20 minutes. I would launch it, then one of them would be dragging ass to get in their jeep or I would be 10 minutes into flying a route and someone would bend over so their butt was in the shot or do something to ruin the shot, or if it is a shot of the Jeeps on the move, one person would drive 40 mph and another would drive 10 mph. It was very difficult to get decent drone footage.

Then normal like GoPro footage was tough too. They all had different ideas and different times they wanted to do stuff. I remember when I said okay enough is enough. We were doing the Rocky Gap Trail by Las Vegas and there was a beautiful spot to capture the Jeeps on a curve along a shelf road part of the trail with the snow capped mountains in the back ground. Carla sped ahead, Gary and Angie stopped because they wanted to take pictures and Bill was in a hurry because he wanted to be back in internet service so he could call his girlfriend. I said To myself I am not spend this energy to film this adventure and 20 hours a week to compile files and edit a video while they are out doing cool stuff and I am at camp editing. Bill could have cared less about being in a video, Angie and Gary wanted to be YouTube famous, had shirts made and decals and had ducks with the Adventure Abound YouTube channel on them and told everyone they had a YouTube channel. Herding cats with rabbits. The juice was not worth the squeeze.

At the end of the day, our problems have been relatively mild as far as travel wise and us all getting along. We all had issues that were beyond our control. Angie with a death in the family and her mom being hospitalized. My sisters house burning down. The cost of fuel blowing Bill’s budget up causing him to sit in camp for days on end and eventually sending him home early.

Then Carla’s drama. I have not typed about this yet. We were camping in Big Bend back in January and Out of internet service. We leave and I check our account and Carla’s retirement check did not deposit. We call retirement services and they tell her she is not eligible to retire. They say she only has 24.996 years of service not 25 years of service. So she will not receive her retirement checks or medical benefits. She is devastated. She thinks she has to go back to Michigan and reapply to get her job back. Now I was in management for 25 years doing payroll. I know that her HR has her payroll messed up. Her final check said she had 52079 hours of service. A year of service is 2080 hours so 25 years of service is 52000 hours. She has the required amount of service to qualify for retirement and they have entered her service hours incorrectly before submitting them to the retirement department. It is a mess, high stress for Carla that bleeds over to me because I am the one that told her when she could retire. I know my stuff is correct. After all I have done payroll for 25 years. So it took them until the first week of April to figure out their mistake. You know Covid and everyone works at home thing. They ended up shorting her about a thousand dollars on here last check and found where they made a mistake on her hours and that she was eligible. So then they back paid her retirement check to January. She received her first check April 13th then her first retirement regular check on April 25th. And this is why we don’t live paycheck to paycheck. I had enough in reserve to carry us with out her retirement check. I knew it would get straightened out and they would catch her up eventually, but it was still stressful after every call for four months without them telling her she was eligible and going to get her pension.

The struggle is real. Yet this morning the coffee is exceptionally good and Carla is cooking sausage, with spinach, onion, fresh garlic, cheddar cheese and eggs. The weather is perfect and my free replacement Jackery solar panel is waiting for me to pick it up at Fed Ex. Going to be a great day.

And I know any of us could have ended up like this guy.

Yet we are not.

Where are you now? I seem to have missed that.

 

[NewJLU2019]

Great pic plus you got rid of the Feta cheese

 

[wibornz]

Great documentation, thanks for sharing.

I noticed you have the Sunrider option on your hardtop. Any wind buffeting issues? Would you recommend the option? It looks super convenient to experience open top motoring.

It is by far one of my favorite mods. I think it is just as quiet as having the freedom panels in. I open and close it all the time. One of Carla and Angie’s favorite mod too. Bestop is a great company to work with. Gary’s and Angie sun rider was not as quiet as mine. Gary talked with Bestop in Moab during Easter Jeep Safari and they replaced it right then. They took his off and installed a new one right there in the parking lot at their booth.

I would 100% buy another one. My word of advice is spend the extra money on the twill model . Another bud of mine has the vinyl one and the twill is quieter and warmer in the winter. Yes the winter. If the sun is out I will open it in the winter. If you keep the front windows closed and crack the rear windows about two inches there is little to no buffering at HYW speeds.

 

[mini2nut]

Excellent. We are considering adding the Sunrider factory option to our 2023 Wrangler when the order banks open.

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