What nobody tells you about Safari mode...

[YJdude]

These are the stories that make driving an open jeep what it's supposed to be. Caught in a storm, dodging a storm, wildlife in the cabin, sweating, freezing, getting stuck around smelly things, driving past a wildflower field, getting close to wildlife, seeing/smelling/experiencing things that you cannot do in cars, being more in tune with nature, etc.

These are all things that make whatever trip/journey you're on notable. If the OP was all zipped up (top up, windows closed, doors on - for those who don't know what safari mode is) then it would have been just another boring day going to work.

Driving an open jeep creates WAY MORE "Hey, remember that one time when _____?" stories than anything else and that is why I love it.

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[MOOG5050]

Always thought safari means softtop up with windows out and 1/2 or no doors.

 

[Murphydog]

These are the stories that make driving an open jeep what it's supposed to be. Caught in a storm, dodging a storm, wildlife in the cabin, sweating, freezing, getting stuck around smelly things, driving past a wildflower field, getting close to wildlife, seeing/smelling/experiencing things that you cannot do in cars, being more in tune with nature, etc.

These are all things that make whatever trip/journey you're on notable. If the OP was all zipped up (top up, windows closed, doors on - for those who don't know what safari mode is) then it would have been just another boring day going to work.

Driving an open jeep creates WAY MORE "Hey, remember that one time when _____?" stories than anything else and that is why I love it.

Agree! During the summer months when I have the top down 90% of the time I briefly run through downtown on my way to work and can smell the salty ocean water - the pleasant version, not the smelly mudflat kind!

Always puts a smile on my face.

Top on or off, I make every effort to steer clear of most big trucks - not only do they leak stuff, I hate not being able to see around em, and of course the rock chips / windshield dings suck too. I know at times they are unavoidable

 

[Omen]

This comes to mind when I hear Safari, but not always with pachyderms...

Mike

 

[Husky Man]

Yep, when I was looking at soft tops, “Safari Mode/Style” usually meant that the Top was still in place, but the side and rear windows were removed, the soft top vendors made no distinction about whether the doors were in place, or half doors or tube doors, just referred to how the top itself was configured.


Doug

 

[Scott97]

Always park the Jeep in the garage and run safari mode all summer. The roof handles most of the rain as long as the wind isn't too bad. Running half doors helps as well. Speaking of which, I bought a set of fabric half doors after a bumblebee flew up the left leg of my shorts. Got stung in the nut sack three times before I could get pulled over! Half doors all the way from now on!

 

[ArcadeTracks]

No expert here, only had our ragtop a few years, but I always considered this safari mode….please educate me if I’ve got this wrong…..

I thought that was "golf cart mode" and "safari mode" was the same, but with doors on (and windows down or off)

 

[Roky]

I thought that was "golf cart mode" and "safari more" was the same, but with doors (and windows down or off)

First I’m hearing of this “golf cart mode”, doesn’t really roll off the tongue does it…

 

[ArcadeTracks]

First I’m hearing of this “golf cart mode”, doesn’t really roll off the tongue does it…

We used to call them "pargos." (Golf carts, not roofed doorless Jeeps.) I think it was a brand name

 

[ArcadeTracks]

Allow me to set the scene. Morning commute. Approximately 15 miles with a mix of mostly highway with some side streets. A warm and humid late-July morning. Traffic is backed up. I've been running in Safari mode since mid-June and so far have had great luck avoiding major pop-up showers. Only a few sprinkles here a there. This story, however, has nothing to do with rain. As the highway became a parking lot I started to notice a smell... a rather disagreeable smell. I look around, expecting to see a trash truck in the vicinity, but there's none in sight. As I roll along and the cars around me play their game of Frogger, the smell gets worse and it's clear this isn't trash. This is something putrid and rotting. As the stench gets to the point where I'm working out the logistics of puking out of a tube door, I notice I'm now behind an old dump truck. As I look closer I see something sticking out of the top. At first I thought it was a tree branch. We've had a lot of storms lately. But, alas, it wasn't a branch... it was a hoof. I am now stuck in my window-less, door-less Jeep behind a dump truck hauling dead animal carcasses.

I love Safari mode... but it isn't all sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes it's a decomposing cow.

So... what are your stories of things that have gone wrong while missing roofs, doors or windows???

Definitely have gotten caught in the rain on multiple occasions. With one particularly unexpected and massive downpour, with no cover for miles, we got the roof on, almost in time. But we decided to reattach the back windows when we found a roof. Didn't turn out too bad ... except for the backseat passenger


(I have also inhaled the scents of more rotting corpses in just over a year than I had over the course of several decades of life.)

 

[Roky]

We used to call them "pargos." (Golf carts, not roofed doorless Jeeps.) I think it was a brand name

Pargo mode….. I get get on board with that…

 

[Take57]

Another Pleasant one, is out around Madras, and Culver, Orygun, when the Mint fields are ready for harvest, we spent many summer vacations on Lake Billy Chinook, and also attended several divisional boat races on Haystack Reservoir.

The smell of Sagebrush, Juniper Trees and the desert brings back incredible childhood memories as well


Doug

Bonus aroma: Shortly after it has rained.

 

[flyer92]

Having driven Jeeps in naked or near-naked configurations for several decades, I think I've smelled some of the most heinous odors I can think of. Seems like I was always getting stuck in traffic behind garbage trucks or roofing tar trailers, but I think THE award for stinkiest goes to this dairy farm I used to drive by when I was living in SoCal. Now, I love cows and dairy products, and I've spent lots of time around horses and loads of steaming poop, but most dairy farms I've driven past just take it to a whole other level. I thank and praise those in the industry because it requires a lot of dirty stinky work to make that cold glass of milk for our Oreos!

On a more pleasant note, perhaps my favorite smells while Jeeping include:

-Driving past the old Holsum bakery in Miami, FL when it was still actively baking bread. You just wanted to eat the air.

-Driving through the Inland Empire in SoCal while oranges were in season. No Yankee Candle could ever replicate that wonderful smell. I don't miss a lot about living in Cali, but I'll remember that forever.

 

[2nd 392]

First I’m hearing of this “golf cart mode”, doesn’t really roll off the tongue does it…

How do ya like “Surrey” ? That’s what Willys called them.

did ya think “Tuscadero” was the first pink Jeep ?

 

[Opus]

Livestock haulers, particularly when it's pigs, can get pretty rough sometimes too.

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