steffen707
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2018
- Threads
- 204
- Messages
- 8,620
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- 8,916
- Location
- Middle Wisconsin
- Vehicle(s)
- 2001 Jetta TDI RIP, 89' Civic SI, 2019 Pacifica Hybrid, 2020 GLADIATOR SPORT S "GLADYS"
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- #1
We'll see who makes it through to the eye candy, also a small “sorry” for teasing folks without photos until tonight, been a hell of a weekend! I’ll document my mods/upgrades to Gladys on this thread too.
Story:
I’m a normal midwestern guy. Life has been pretty good to me. No major medical issues, pretty smart, never got tangled up with the law, but I always was annoyed watching the news, 20/20 or 60 minutes with my father growing up. “You think you’ve got it bad!?”, he would say when we watched a story about starving kids in China, inner-city youth huffing paint or random civilians getting limbs blown off overseas. Yeah, comparatively my life isn’t 1/100th of a percent as hard as some folks, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have struggles. The toughest thing for somebody might be finding a safe place to sleep at night. My toughest thing last week was cutting up 15 trees that fell on my house, fence, other fence, playset and shed. Luckily the house had very minor damage, but damn that was stressful and a lot of work. I’m still not done.
I’m the bread winner of our family. Sure, my wife has stress raising our boys, but making sure we’ve got enough money coming in has its stress too. Our stupid health insurance is $1337 a month, plus a $13,000 max out of pocket family deductible. UGH……..
I’m fat, not obese, but at 5’7” and 183 lbs, the doctor says (and I agree) I should start thinking about eating better and exercising again. I’ve got 2 wonderful young boys and a terrific wife that would all love for me to be around for a very long time. Don’t get me wrong, I know there are plenty of folks farther along battling weight issues, but it’s a slippery slope that can run in the family.
“UMMM, WHAT ABOUT GLADYS? This is a story about your Gladiator, right?”
Today was the first day in a long while that I never thought about paragraphs 1-3. I wake up all excited to get my JT at 7:30. My wife is still sleeping at the Super 8 Motel in Spirit Lake Iowa. I post a few times on the forum as I’m anxious to go see it. Finally, it dawns on me, I can just walk there and let my wife sleep! I take a stroll 0.4 Miles away and I see Gladys for the first time.
She looks like every other JT people have posted photos of, but its different. I know today I get to take this one home! That’s my beauty and finally all the waiting is paying off.
I’m from out of state, and Wisconsin has weird leasing policies. I spend 90 minutes chatting with the finance woman Cathy. She’s so pleasant. Two guys load up my empty Jeep crate into the back of the JT while another sales guy asks if I want a soda or coffee. I can just imagine their office getting together for a Christmas office party. Each asking about their families and what they’re going to do the next weekend. Reminds me of family.
Before I know it, its been 90 minutes, but I didn’t mind at all, I know paperwork is a bitch. My wife calls and I tell her to pack up and bring the checkbook, we’re almost ready to roll.
Before we leave, I shake 2 people’s hands and we hop into the jeep to experience Gladys and all her glory. I push the start button and turn the radio on, but nothing comes on the display, but the music is playing………I start pressing a few buttons, things work, but no display. I chuckle to myself, “This drive home is going to be a long one!”. Then I realize I didn’t put my foot on the brake when I pressed start. Do it again, Gladys’ display lights up and I see the Wrangler roll across the instrument cluster. I fiddle with Uconnect and Android Auto, doesn’t work………no sweat, I’ve still got XM radio. We take Cathy’s advice and head to a local breakfast/coffee place.
This is the first time I’ve driven a Gladiator. We eat breakfast swing by Walmart to get a ratchet strap for the empty Jeep Crate I called dibs on. While strapping it down, first Wrangler owner experience. She was all impressed by the Gladiator, and we had a nice time chit chatting about how she wants her husband to get one so she can drive it, lol
I aired down to 36psi at Walmart and we head for home. Hit the open road and I’m grinning from ear to ear. Gladys is all mine. This is my truck! It hauls ass and passing is effortless. The stereo is incredible. I turn the bass down because somebody set it to +8. I spend the next 90 minutes fumbling around with all the settings and get to know Gladys.
We stop off at McDonalds for a quick break and so I can air down to 33psi and take the freedom panels off. CO2 delivery guy compliments me on the Bright White JT and asks when I got it. Big smile on my face.
We jump back on I90 and I floor it on the on-ramp. All 5 windows down (beer window slid open I guess) top off, 85 degrees and sunny. We’re doing about 80 with my wife following behind in Dory. I turn on the Warthog mix some people created on the site. Flip to an Avenge Sevenfold song and blast the tunes. I get goosebumps with the wind, the loud music, flying by others on the highway. Singing along at the top of my lungs, bobbing my head a bit and pumping my first with that “F*ck Yeah” voice in the back of my head.
Its just Gladys and me devouring the open road. Regular car/truck after regular car/truck. I see those poor souls just going through the motions of their commute when Gladys and I are living it up. Freedom……that’s what I think I’m feeling. I’ve got a couple of modded up scooters (yes scooters) that’ll haul ass up to about 55mph and then run out of RPM. I don’t ride them much anymore for fear of getting run over. Gladys is giving me that similar feeling back. Open air freedom but on 4 wheels, faster, more convenient to haul plywood and this feeling will hopefully be DAILY!
Yeah the wind was loud sometimes, the JT wandered a bit here and there and my lower back was sweaty, but I never once thought about starving kids in China, how I need to start working out again when I get home, or how I wish those trees never got blown over.
Not a care in the world. I imagine all of you guys/gals that have known this feeling for years. This secret…….maybe this is what the “It’s a Jeep thing” is all about. Whatever it is (I like it a lot).
We drove 30 minutes through a torrential rain storm and I get to put her into 4HI, pull off at a gas tation to avoid some hail and Gladys brought me home safely. Then I got this photo of her with a rainbow in the background. She's my girl!
Story:
I’m a normal midwestern guy. Life has been pretty good to me. No major medical issues, pretty smart, never got tangled up with the law, but I always was annoyed watching the news, 20/20 or 60 minutes with my father growing up. “You think you’ve got it bad!?”, he would say when we watched a story about starving kids in China, inner-city youth huffing paint or random civilians getting limbs blown off overseas. Yeah, comparatively my life isn’t 1/100th of a percent as hard as some folks, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have struggles. The toughest thing for somebody might be finding a safe place to sleep at night. My toughest thing last week was cutting up 15 trees that fell on my house, fence, other fence, playset and shed. Luckily the house had very minor damage, but damn that was stressful and a lot of work. I’m still not done.
I’m the bread winner of our family. Sure, my wife has stress raising our boys, but making sure we’ve got enough money coming in has its stress too. Our stupid health insurance is $1337 a month, plus a $13,000 max out of pocket family deductible. UGH……..
I’m fat, not obese, but at 5’7” and 183 lbs, the doctor says (and I agree) I should start thinking about eating better and exercising again. I’ve got 2 wonderful young boys and a terrific wife that would all love for me to be around for a very long time. Don’t get me wrong, I know there are plenty of folks farther along battling weight issues, but it’s a slippery slope that can run in the family.
“UMMM, WHAT ABOUT GLADYS? This is a story about your Gladiator, right?”
Today was the first day in a long while that I never thought about paragraphs 1-3. I wake up all excited to get my JT at 7:30. My wife is still sleeping at the Super 8 Motel in Spirit Lake Iowa. I post a few times on the forum as I’m anxious to go see it. Finally, it dawns on me, I can just walk there and let my wife sleep! I take a stroll 0.4 Miles away and I see Gladys for the first time.
She looks like every other JT people have posted photos of, but its different. I know today I get to take this one home! That’s my beauty and finally all the waiting is paying off.
I’m from out of state, and Wisconsin has weird leasing policies. I spend 90 minutes chatting with the finance woman Cathy. She’s so pleasant. Two guys load up my empty Jeep crate into the back of the JT while another sales guy asks if I want a soda or coffee. I can just imagine their office getting together for a Christmas office party. Each asking about their families and what they’re going to do the next weekend. Reminds me of family.
Before I know it, its been 90 minutes, but I didn’t mind at all, I know paperwork is a bitch. My wife calls and I tell her to pack up and bring the checkbook, we’re almost ready to roll.
Before we leave, I shake 2 people’s hands and we hop into the jeep to experience Gladys and all her glory. I push the start button and turn the radio on, but nothing comes on the display, but the music is playing………I start pressing a few buttons, things work, but no display. I chuckle to myself, “This drive home is going to be a long one!”. Then I realize I didn’t put my foot on the brake when I pressed start. Do it again, Gladys’ display lights up and I see the Wrangler roll across the instrument cluster. I fiddle with Uconnect and Android Auto, doesn’t work………no sweat, I’ve still got XM radio. We take Cathy’s advice and head to a local breakfast/coffee place.
This is the first time I’ve driven a Gladiator. We eat breakfast swing by Walmart to get a ratchet strap for the empty Jeep Crate I called dibs on. While strapping it down, first Wrangler owner experience. She was all impressed by the Gladiator, and we had a nice time chit chatting about how she wants her husband to get one so she can drive it, lol
I aired down to 36psi at Walmart and we head for home. Hit the open road and I’m grinning from ear to ear. Gladys is all mine. This is my truck! It hauls ass and passing is effortless. The stereo is incredible. I turn the bass down because somebody set it to +8. I spend the next 90 minutes fumbling around with all the settings and get to know Gladys.
We stop off at McDonalds for a quick break and so I can air down to 33psi and take the freedom panels off. CO2 delivery guy compliments me on the Bright White JT and asks when I got it. Big smile on my face.
We jump back on I90 and I floor it on the on-ramp. All 5 windows down (beer window slid open I guess) top off, 85 degrees and sunny. We’re doing about 80 with my wife following behind in Dory. I turn on the Warthog mix some people created on the site. Flip to an Avenge Sevenfold song and blast the tunes. I get goosebumps with the wind, the loud music, flying by others on the highway. Singing along at the top of my lungs, bobbing my head a bit and pumping my first with that “F*ck Yeah” voice in the back of my head.
Its just Gladys and me devouring the open road. Regular car/truck after regular car/truck. I see those poor souls just going through the motions of their commute when Gladys and I are living it up. Freedom……that’s what I think I’m feeling. I’ve got a couple of modded up scooters (yes scooters) that’ll haul ass up to about 55mph and then run out of RPM. I don’t ride them much anymore for fear of getting run over. Gladys is giving me that similar feeling back. Open air freedom but on 4 wheels, faster, more convenient to haul plywood and this feeling will hopefully be DAILY!
Yeah the wind was loud sometimes, the JT wandered a bit here and there and my lower back was sweaty, but I never once thought about starving kids in China, how I need to start working out again when I get home, or how I wish those trees never got blown over.
Not a care in the world. I imagine all of you guys/gals that have known this feeling for years. This secret…….maybe this is what the “It’s a Jeep thing” is all about. Whatever it is (I like it a lot).
We drove 30 minutes through a torrential rain storm and I get to put her into 4HI, pull off at a gas tation to avoid some hail and Gladys brought me home safely. Then I got this photo of her with a rainbow in the background. She's my girl!
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