Itās one thing to have to drive as far as you did, but to have people be so inconsiderate,to you is another. Those type of people should not own a Jeep. I live in central Florida and we donāt have rocks so to speak. Itās mud or sand but we like to run in the Ocala National Forest in the mid 70s. We like to run in the holes that were left by bombs. They had a bombing range there with a bunch of holes,(yeah we checked before we went,to make sure they werenāt going to be practicing) we were running short bed pickups and you were allowed back then to have beer while you drive. Hell, one guy had big wash tub full of ice and beer. He, along with others were never disrespectful or anything. One guy had a long wheel base and got hung up in one the holes. Everybody had been through and was continuing on,until we heard him on the CB. (yep,no cell phones back then) You couldnāt wait for long to call for help or they would be out of range. We would all go back and help. It took 2 -4wd with small block chevys in them to get him out. But nobody got left. We would all talk about and laugh. Just having a good time. Hell, we even had a couple of guys who had not long got out of Raiford prison. Heck, they were even decent, and kept other guys who wanted to join in, in line.
You were the better Man for sure. You can be proud. Better wheeling next time ,my friend!!!!
You seem to remember it much differently. You were spotting me? What a joke. Your were ordering me, while insulting my build at any chance you got. You were yelling at me out of the gate. You personally told me, before I said a word, that if I donāt listen to you, youād leave me out there. Iām not going to stand here and watch you try to turn this around. I should have done it myself. I would have gotten out of there fine, and without the be you brought along with your so called help. Who gives a shit if I winched? Who gives a shit if I stacked rocks? If youāre the kind of person that finds that to be negative, youāre the reason I posted this. Tough trail no doubt. And I was having a great time until I became the scapegoat of the night. I was keeping up perfectly fine. Zero mechanical failures on my Jeep, which is more than I can say if multiple rigs on 40ās and larger. The night got long because of a several hour repair that ended around sunset. Not because I was on tiny 37ā tires with a 5ā+ lift. I lost two beads, and my own co2 got the first one seated. I very much appreciated the other one being lent on the second one. Who cares if I lost two beads! Thatās part of wheeling on tough trails sometimes. The fact that youāre complaining about that and want some kind of award for helping get one reseated, when it was mostly someone else helping, says plenty about you. Iāve been on plenty of runs with breakage and lengthy repairs or recovery. Itās usually not mine. Iām the first person to pull out tools, and the first person to help. And I damn sure donāt berate people because their Jeep is having trouble on a trail. Thatās just bs. The fact that you find your perspective valid says everything. I didnāt complain a single bit on that trail. And no one was waiting on me. If youāve got a problem with working through a tough trail, maybe you arenāt the right personality to be on a run like that. My jeep wasnāt the largest, but Iāve been through trails like that before. The damage was frustrating. But Iām not posting about damage. Iām posting about peopleās attitudes. A good spotter discusses the plan with the driver. A bad spotter yells and threatens. I was trying to avoid damage. You told me if I continued to try to avoid damage that youād leave me out there. Thatās not wheeling. You guys talked a big game in the beginning of the trail, about just figuring it out and getting through. But when it got late, you needed a punching bag. And it was the guy with 37ās. You would have had a right to be frustrated if I was holding people up tryingoptional lines or hard lines. Nope. I donāt experiment on group runs. I was taking the line of least resistance. Was it an extreme trail? Absolutely. But that changes nothing Iāve said. Trying to get through a tough trail in a group is about teamwork, not orders and threats.
Well said Dan and I know who I believe. It's funny that you didn't call anyone out by name but others can't help themselves. Like you said, a group is a group and they should work as a group. Threatening others is not the way to do things. Some people just have ego problems and think they are better than anyone else. Little do they know, they are the losers. You keep doing you. You are a better man and the type they will never be.
Sorry about your damage and the lousy experience. I also avoid large groups; I did Jeep Safari one year in the LJR and decided "well, I've done it; now I don't have to do it again".So this took me a bit to bring myself to post. It was a bit raw for a while. Some of you have been so kind to let me talk it out and vent. Thanks very much to, in no particular order, @Stan H, @Shibbyjeep, @ChrisNLA, @RudeJeepin, @Mightytalldude, @JCappy, and a couple non forum peeps, for taking the time to talk me off the ledge, so to speak. Your support means a ton, and it wonāt be forgotten.
So almost a month ago I rolled down to AZ on an invite to do some wheeling. The way I took the invite, it was a vendor customer appreciation run, but no vendor shows, no big deal. Just wheeling and shooting the breeze after. Maybe I missed something, but I had no idea Iād find an event with well over 100 vehicles. I probably wouldnāt have gone, but I was 12 hours from home in a hotel, so screw it. Letās have some fun. I usually prefer much smaller, no pressure, lower testosterone groups. But oh well. I was still excited to do some rock crawling. I obviously love that stuff.
Friday was super chill. Moderate trail that was just fun. Donāt get me wrong, Iām fine with really tough trails.
Saturday started off great. Did a tough-ish trail that I thoroughly enjoyed. Lots of very impressive rigs. The trail went quickly, so some locals discussed and came up with another trail to run for the second half of the day. No one knew much about the trail, as it was very new. It was crazy difficult, but no regrets in regards to difficulty. Iād legitimately rate it an 11. But that didnāt change how fun it was. I want to stress that the day wasnāt rough because of a rough trail. It went poorly because there were a handful of people there that I could have done without.
I was the smallest rig in the group of roughly 10 vehicles, but wasnāt having trouble keeping up. All the obstacles were hard enough that even the largest rigs had to go slowly. Meaning no one was waiting on little ole me. At some point one jeep had serous front end breakage. Enough that required disassembly, parts, welding, and reassembly. All part of the fun in my opinion. But it obviously took time, and by the time it was moving under its own power, it was sunset.
After that the trail got harder. Iām definitely not documenting every event. It would be a lot. Still no regrets, for a minuteā¦. I was last in the group, but not for any particular reason. Just how we started out. People were getting punchy. I certainly needed to winch and stack rocks a couple times by this point. Winching to me is perfectly fine. Fun even. But others found it less favorable. I heard one time, no more stacking rocks. Just hook up and drag it up! I was not a fan. I like using our brains to figure out the best way to tackle an obstacle. Soon after that, I was on an obstacle that ripped my rear driver fender off, and marred the crap out of my bed. I was repositioning to avoid losing the tail light as well, when I was yelled at by a stranger. The jist was that I should not reposition. I explained that I was trying to avoid further damage, and had some ideas to avoid it, specifically I was going to grab my rear winch to move my rear end out of harms way. I was told straight up, that if I did that, Iād be left out there, all night, alone. Yes. It was described in that detail. They wanted to get to the bar. They couldnāt have cared less about getting vehicles through as carefully as possible. It was extremely disappointing. At one point a little earlier than this, I was told that everyone was waiting on me. Thatās complete bull. It was a long day, due to time consuming repairs earlier, none of which were on my Jeep. I was the scapegoat because of my tiny 37ās. Admittedly I lost two beads on this trail, and my co2, and another bottle later successfully rebeaded the tires. So sure, that took a minute. But on a tough trail, thatās just part of the game in my opinion. Things happen and you adjust. This was not that day. I asked one guy yelling at me what I had done to piss home off. I said I was under the impression that this was supposed to be a just a fun day of wheeling. His response was, āIām not that guyā. So weird. Just not a cool person in my opinion. Too much of a hothead.
Fast forward to much later after the last major obstacle. The vehicles in front of me hit 4hi and were gone. No radio information about the way out. I attempted to find my way, and I certainly have ample offroad lighting. But it was a maze. Finally I tried the radio and found that most everyone was off the trail. After an hour or so was able to find the way out. I must give credit to the few jeeps that came back in for me, and two others separate from me. But if weād have stayed together earlier, it would never have happened.
I feel like Iām rambling, but Iām doing my best to describe the day, without calling anyone specifically out. I donāt find that to be productive. But itās hard not to, even weeks later. I maintain to this day that the trail sucked because of the attitudes of 4 or 5 people. But it was so severe that itās left a mark.
The end result is a trashed driver bedside, trashed fender, and the worst is the passenger side. The rock slide steps with the armor werenāt up to the task. After 5 years of tough-ass trails, it was enough. A single impact crushed the step and pushed all three sections of the rocket panel in about 2 inches. Thankfully the doors still function. So itās going to be a while before itās trail worthy again. Lots of panels need to be cut out and replacements welded in. I donāt have that skill, so itās off to a body shop. Theyāre estimating 2 months until itās done. I must say, itās impressive that the steps still operate. It took some replacement rivets to make sure the armor didnāt fall of on the interstate, but they still open and close. I had fender clips with me, so was able to drive home without highway rocks hitting the bed above and behind. But itās broken in like three places. Lots of washers to get it reattached for the drive
I might have left it if it was just the bedside. But every time I see the damage I remember the people on that trail. Iām done wheeling with large groups. If I ever hit something like EJS, itāll be for the vendor shows only. My style is slow and steady, with the goal of no damage, or as little as possible. Iām done with measuring egos in large groups of randoms.
Sorry for the long story. I needed to finally put it out there. Life is a learning experience. I learned plenty on that day.
The WILDHOBO will return. Bigger, faster, stronger. Ok. Not faster. Thatās ridiculous.
I donāt think anyone is a loser. But I agree otherwise 100 percent. This post wasnāt about calling people out. Even when I was asked to do so, I just donāt see the point in starting a war for no reason. Iām not the guy that wants the waiter fired because they were rude. I might skip that restaurant in the future, but Iām not going to write a bad review on Google. Just no point in my opinion.
