I guess I hit the big time (sort of). Anyway, I want to thank Mark D. Stephens and JPFreek Magazine about including my homebuilt cargo drawer system for the Jeep Wrangler in the October/November edition of the magazine. The article is titled Expedition Confessions: Ready Your Wrangler for a Multi-Day Adventure and my cargo box is featured on page 10.
You can view the pdf version of the magazine at http://www.jpfreek.com/Images/JPF-No4.pdf
After two and a half years of ownership, I sold my Jeep Wrangler this week. For the first time in my life, I was actually kind of sad to sell a vehicle. Usually I was glad to be rid of the vehicle I was selling, but not this time.
I guess you get somewhat attached when you have spent several years customizing a vehicle to suit your own needs. My buildup of the Jeep was finally being realized and it was performing better than I planned. However, I had to be practical and sell the Jeep in order to purchase a larger vehicle. (more…)
With an actual weekend off, and knowing that I would probably soon be selling my Jeep Wrangler to buy a larger adventure vehicle, it was time for a three day Jeep adventure.
Our first goal (my son Steven and myself) was to travel from I-90 near Cle Elum, Washington to Highway 410 near Cliffdell, Washington via logging roads. I heard people talk about such a road in the past, but have never attempted to locate it.
Our second goal was to travel from Highway 410 to Highway 12 over logging roads. We would then travel Highway 12 over White Pass to Packwood. From Packwood, we would head South on logging roads towards Mt. Adams and locate a campsite for the night.
As in previous adventures, I turned to the book Washington Byways: Backcountry Drives For The Whole Family
Cascade Overland Adventure: Intro | Day One | Day Two | Day Three
One important aspect of any outdoor adventure is the ability to make it home safely. Animal strikes are one of the leading causes of vehicle damage when traveling in rural and remote areas, especially at night. As anybody who travels the highways knows, here in the Pacific Northwest, we have our share of animal strikes. The most common you see along the side of the road are deer. I have also seen collisions with elk, cattle and horses. Our friends to the North in British Columbia frequently witness collisions with moose.
In a full head-on animal strike, at a minimum, you will most likely damage your radiator, which can totally incapacitate your vehicle. Hopefully, the collision will be a glancing blow, minimizing the damage. I’ve seen pickup trucks where a 60 mph collision with a deer caused damage to the entire front end including the bumper, grill, radiator, core support, hood and both front fenders. The loss of your vehicle far from home is the last thing a person wants on an adventure.
As anybody with a sort wheelbase Jeep knows, it’s easy to run out of storage space fast. Jeeps were never intended to be multi-day expedition vehicles such as the Toyota Land Cruiser or a Land Rover, but we continue to try and make it work.
For my current needs, I decided that I would rather sacrifice the lack of storage space for a smaller, open-cab, short-wheelbase vehicle like a Jeep to maximize my adventures in the Pacific Northwest.
This article outlines my first attempt in maximizing the available storage space available in my Jeep.