Loop Circle Outside of Greenville

In Meriwether County off of the Roosevelt Highway there is a small stretch of road called Loop Circle. On it is a cool old bridge that I was slightly nervous to drive across. Neat area, great for pictures.

Outside of Box Springs, Georgia

Taken with my Droid X.

Wagoneer Instrument Cluster

I have nearly put 10,000 miles on this Jeep since I have owned it...

Chattahoochee National Forest - Wagoneer Adventures

I recently went on a fly fishing weekend getaway to North Georgia, and I just happened to be right in the middle of the Chattahoochee National Forest, which of course meant some Forest Service Road Adventuring! It was a dark and gloomy day and the area I was in was recovering from a tornado from a few months ago, so a few roads were closed and many others were in poor condition.

Billie, Cody, and Julia.

This was one of the more interesting roads I found, off of Tray Mountain Road. Upon venturing down this road, we were met by three teenage "mountain boys" driving a lifted Chervrolet heading in the opposite direction. The road was too narrow to pass, so I backed up until they found a suitable place to pull off. I drove forward, and the driver of the truck rolled down his window. I pulled beside him and thanked him for pulling off the road.

"I wouldn't go down this one!" The driver, looking a little pale warned.

"Yeah, you don't want to try it!" The younger boy in the bed of the truck warned, looking frightened and thankful he was alive.

"Oh yeah?" I innocently asked, even more amped up to drive down the road.

"Oh, no, no you don't want to do it." The boy stuttered, still somewhat shaken and shaking, "there's a tree blocking the road and rocks... rocks everywhere! And a huge rut in the road. We barely made it to the end!"

"Oh... ok." I said, reaching an even more anxious level to travel this rocky rutted death inducing road! "Uh, thanks, then. Say, is there a place I can turn around down there?" I asked, no wanting to show my over eager hand that I was in no way going to heed their warning. He informed me there was a turn around, and we parted ways.

The road turned out to be rough, but not as impassible as I had hoped. I did wind up turning around, after I found the rutted out area in the road. Earlier while driving a trail I had blown one of the lines to my air shocks, so my Wagon was saggin', which limited my maneuverability.

Over all it was a pleasant and fun ride, it would have been even more enjoyable if it had not been such gloomy weather. 





Florida Bay Fishing

Jeep Wagoneer vs Florida Dirt Road

The setting. Point Washington State Forest and WMA near Destin Florida. A beautiful, sunny day.





Everything was going well, driving down the Florida State Park dirt roads. I was having fun.





Dirt roads and land scape that look very similar to Marion County, GA.

Hmmm... what's this in the road? A little mud? A little rutted out? No big deal.



Ok, front hubs are locked, the transfercase is in four wheel drive. But, it's not nessecary, because this really isn't that bad, I'll just blast right through this.

Or... maybe... not... That's right. As soon as I hit the center of this muddy rutted out 12 foot long piece of road my Wagoneer sank and bottomed out on the dirt. The wheels would only spin. 

I tried wood under the wheels. I tried jacking it up so it wasn't bottomed out. No luck. I even tried pushing it. After a few unkind words and beating my head agaisnt fake wood siding, Cody and I hiked back to the entrance of the Forest, which I will say was quite a walk, and found a Florida resident of few words that agreed to come and pull me out. 

See, it really doesn't look that bad. But you can actually see where the front differential bottomed out in the muddy sand.

Hot, tired, and out of the mud....

Photos by Billie

1965 Jeep Wagoneer

This past weekend I took a trip to Zebulon, Georgia to pick up some parts off of this 1965 Jeep Wagoneer. Specifically I went for the "rhino" grill to retrofit onto my Wagoneer.

Mr McDonell owns this 1965 Wagoneer, he inherited it from his Dad after he passed away in 1976. A few years after that he drove it around his farm, until parking the Wagoneer in his cow pasture sometime in the 1980's where it sits until today. Now, he is parting the Jeep out as time has taken it's rusty toll on the body.

It was a real pleasure to meet Mr McDonell. He talked of how much his father loved this Jeep and used to try to "make it across the swamp on the back of the property in it." The Jeep is powered by a 230 Tornado, a visually beautiful engine, but often described as underpowered and problematic. Although many argue that bad reputation is not true. Mr McDonell said that, while the engine was not powerful, it ran good and faithfully, and got around 15 miles-per-gallon. This particular engine was parked at only 60,000 original miles, and has been preserved using diesel fuel.

Wagoneer

Jeep Wagoneer EMT Conduit Roof Rack

Okay, I know, I have been quiet. . . again. But I have also been busy. Amongst other things, I have been working on my roof rack for my Wagoneer. I built it out of EMT conduit and it's pretty cool, I think. It's not perfect, but it's the size I wanted and does the job!

I got the idea from this guy's roof rack. http://www.cherokeeforum.com/f58/my-easy-no-weld-roof-rack-115152/ I just made it larger.

Has It Really Been A Week?!?

Yes, it's been over a week since my last post here. But never fear my loyal readers, I am still alive! I have been hard at work every evening working on my roof rack for my Wagoneer. I am building it out of 3/4 and 1/2 EMT, conduit. I have seen the idea all over Jeep forums, and not wanting to shell out around five hundred bucks for a roof rack for my Jeep, I decided to try my hand at building one. It's coming out pretty nice, and strong. I have read a lot of people saying that EMT is too weak, but I think it's just fine. Especially for my use, I don't plan on putting anything stupid heavy on top of my Jeep anyway!

Anyway, no pictures of that yet, it's still a work in progress. I only get an hour each night to work on it, after Julia goes to sleep.

Well. . . lets get to the pictures. (From the archives!)

The beautiful Flint River! I haven't been down there in ages it seems!

Weird bug.

Driving from Augusta, Georgia to Columbus, Georgia in the Wagoneer. This is the first drive. That was a 250 mile drive in a new old Jeep. Wow! I am so thankful nothing "eventful" happened, thinking back on it.

Enjoying my Wagoneer for the first time.