WILDHOBO
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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 won’t 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 I’d find an event with well over 100 vehicles. I probably wouldn’t have gone, but I was 12 hours from home in a hotel, so screw it. Let’s 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. Don’t get me wrong, I’m 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. I’d legitimately rate it an 11. But that didn’t change how fun it was. I want to stress that the day wasn’t 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 wasn’t 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. I’m definitely not documenting every event. It would be a lot. Still no regrets, for a minute…. 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, I’d be left out there, all night, alone. Yes. It was described in that detail. They wanted to get to the bar. They couldn’t 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. That’s 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 37’s. 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, that’s 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, “I’m not that guy”. 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 we’d have stayed together earlier, it would never have happened.
I feel like I’m rambling, but I’m doing my best to describe the day, without calling anyone specifically out. I don’t find that to be productive. But it’s 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 it’s 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 weren’t 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 it’s going to be a while before it’s trail worthy again. Lots of panels need to be cut out and replacements welded in. I don’t have that skill, so it’s off to a body shop. They’re estimating 2 months until it’s done. I must say, it’s impressive that the steps still operate. It took some replacement rivets to make sure the armor didn’t 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 it’s 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. I’m done wheeling with large groups. If I ever hit something like EJS, it’ll be for the vendor shows only. My style is slow and steady, with the goal of no damage, or as little as possible. I’m 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. That’s ridiculous.
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 I’d find an event with well over 100 vehicles. I probably wouldn’t have gone, but I was 12 hours from home in a hotel, so screw it. Let’s 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. Don’t get me wrong, I’m 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. I’d legitimately rate it an 11. But that didn’t change how fun it was. I want to stress that the day wasn’t 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 wasn’t 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. I’m definitely not documenting every event. It would be a lot. Still no regrets, for a minute…. 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, I’d be left out there, all night, alone. Yes. It was described in that detail. They wanted to get to the bar. They couldn’t 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. That’s 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 37’s. 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, that’s 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, “I’m not that guy”. 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 we’d have stayed together earlier, it would never have happened.
I feel like I’m rambling, but I’m doing my best to describe the day, without calling anyone specifically out. I don’t find that to be productive. But it’s 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 it’s 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 weren’t 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 it’s going to be a while before it’s trail worthy again. Lots of panels need to be cut out and replacements welded in. I don’t have that skill, so it’s off to a body shop. They’re estimating 2 months until it’s done. I must say, it’s impressive that the steps still operate. It took some replacement rivets to make sure the armor didn’t 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 it’s 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. I’m done wheeling with large groups. If I ever hit something like EJS, it’ll be for the vendor shows only. My style is slow and steady, with the goal of no damage, or as little as possible. I’m 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. That’s ridiculous.
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