All Things Jeep Blog & Musings

Great American Jeep Rally - September 21, 2008 - Somers, CT

Posted by Jean Wnuk on Thu, Aug 28, 2008 @ 09:48 AM

We got our start 5 years ago at the Great American Jeep Rally back in 2003. Next month we'll be celebrating our 5 Year Birthday and we couldn't pick a better place than at this New England-based Jeep Show. In fact, I may just bake a cake! (What flavor do you want?)

Sponsored by Baystate Jeepers, the Great American Jeep Rally  is a great Jeep show. At the last one there were over 500 Jeeps. There's vendors (All Things Jeep being my personal favorite), food, music, local Jeep Clubs and plenty of activities for Jeep owners. Let's see what the website says,

"Jeep enthusiasts have been traveling from all over the northeast to show their appreciation for Jeeps of all kinds - military, antique, new and old, stock to heavily modified. We offer hourly raffles and trophy awards for street, beater, military, antique, off-road, and others. In addition, attendees may test their Jeep's articulation on one of the RTI Ramps and play in the Rock Garden just to name a few of the events the entire family will enjoy throughout the day. Food vendors, vendors selling Jeep ware, local organized wheeling clubs, and a TreadLightly! informational booth will also be readily available. "

Also noted: Don't forget to bring your own Remote Controlled Offroader for the RC Rock Garden, hosted by the CT RC Rock Crawlers.

Should be a good time. If you are in Massachusetts, NY, RI, CT, NH, VT, NJ or ME and want a real good road trip, I highly recommend this being your destination. Show up and say hi to us.

http://www.jeeprally.org/

When:  September 21, 2008
Time:  9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Where:  Four Town Fairgrounds, Somers, CT
Directions:  Get Directions
Entrance:  There is a $10 donation for each Jeep. The first 600 donors will receive a gift bag which includes an event program, raffle ticket and other goodies from our sponsors.

Tags: great american jeep rally

101 Off-Road Words

Posted by Jean Wnuk on Sun, Aug 24, 2008 @ 11:33 AM

We need 101 Off-Road related words for a shirt we are making. Chime in with the ones that are missing. 

  1. off-road
  2. wheelin'
  3. rock crawling
  4. mud bogging
  5. skid plate
  6. rock rails
  7. lift it
  8. roll it
  9. off-camber
  10. flex
  11. air down
  12. lockers
  13. pumpkin
  14. beater
  15. thrashed
  16. crawling
  17. line
  18. low gear
  19. low range
  20. rock crawler
  21. swampers
  22. differential
  23. rocks
  24. articulation
  25. mud
  26. trail boss
  27. winch
  28. crawl ratio
  29. drive shaft
  30. RTI
  31. sway bar
  32. 4WD
  33. dent
  34. beauty mark
  35. battle scar
  36. tree huggin'

Tags: off-road words

Are Jeep Jamborees worth the money?

Posted by Jean Wnuk on Fri, Aug 22, 2008 @ 03:02 PM

 

 

Norman, Rebecca, Hannah and I just came back from our very first Jeep Jamboree USA Event. It was the Aug 15-17 Jeep Jamboree on the Rubicon Trail. We left from the Jeep Jamboree USA headquarters in Georgetown, CA on Friday morning at about 6:30 and finished up the trail down by Lake Tahoe on Sunday afternoon around 2pm. Saturday was spend in base camp in Rubicon Springs doing absolutely nothing (well, actually lots of things, but nothing that was required!) No cell phone, no computer service, no laundry to do, no orders to pack, no vacuuming, no mowing the lawn, no website to monitor. It was fantastic!

I read a lot of Jeep forums and talk to a lot of off-roaders and one of the biggest debates I see is whether or not it's worth the money to participate in a Jeep Jamboree. Honestly, we've been wheeling for almost 20 years and we don't need "help" figuring out what line to take and how to get around an obstacle. And, we'd always rather ride with a small group than a large group. So we've never felt the desire to sign-up for a Jeep Jamboree. We did this Jamboree because we are a sponsor of the event and we were going to be in the area that week visiting family in Reno. Wanted to see what it was really all about.

So...after taking this trip, I now have an opinion on whether it is worth the money or not. Drumroll please......

YES. It is worth it.

And if the other Jamborees are run like this one - you will get your money's worth too. Here what I think.

First - you need to know how much the Rubicon Trip costs.

$350 for adults. $150 for kids 6-12. Free for kids 5 and under. There's primitive camping only. (there are outhouses and a river/lake to wash in)

Okay, here are the tangibles that you get for your money.

1. Outstanding trail guides.

It's always good to have a spotter for the tough areas. It stinks when they aren't good at it. I would guess there were about 20 Trail Guides set up at different parts of the trail, and traveling with you in their own Jeeps, all ready to help get you over the obstacles safely and with the least amount of damage to your Jeep. Depending upon your skill level, they guided you accurately, or spotted you when you took your choice of path. (Hi Bob & Charlie  and everyone else in the orange hats!) They did a great job and come to find out, they don't get paid to do it, they volunteer their time.

  

2. Terrific food.

OMG, the food was fantastic. We got breakfast, lunch and dinner Friday and Saturday and a breakfast on Sunday before we pushed off. As we pulled out of camp for the last half of the trail, they handed us brown bags full of trail snacks too. Some of the food we scarfed down were

breakfast - cereals, fresh fruit, oatmeal, biscuits and gravy, coffee, teas, hot chocolates, fruit juices, blueberry pancakes, bacon, sausage,

lunch - burgers and dogs, homemade potato salad, tasty salads, giant cookies, bags of chips, juices, chicken tenders, fruit

dinner - ribs, corn on the cob, scalloped potatoes, homemade chili, baked beans, steaks, garlic cheese bread, barbeque chicken, carrot cakes, many varieties of salad, gourmet ice cream bars

(Guess I was too hungry to ever stop and take a photo of the food 'cause I can't find any on my camera, but here's where we picked it up)

At camp there is always snacks and drinks available, including a bar area (no alcohol on the trail, of course)

 

3. Mechanics on and off the trail to fix any problem you had.

Less than a half hour into the ride on Friday we broke a valve stem. With the help of a few trail guides, we changed the tire in about 3 minutes and were back on the trail.

Back at camp, they came over to the Jeep and replaced the broken valve stem. No charge. One guy tipped his Scrambler and did some decent damage. (hope everything is running right again Richard!). The mechanics on the trail fixed the problems right there on the trail and had him up and running again. He was the last to roll into camp on Friday evening, coming in at about 9:30 but he was fixed and smiling! My guess is that he had about $300-500 worth of replacement parts installed, along with about $500-$800 of labor done on his Jeep, all as part of the price he paid for the weekend.

4. Expert teachers at camp who gave talks on the history of the area and the geology of the area on Saturday. Learned about the Indians, the rock formations, the mineral springs, etc.

These were the tangible items that you pay for. The intangible items are the comraderie you feel meeting up with old and new friends (all new for us, but some attendees told us this was their 8th or 9th Jamboree). Everyone is doing what you are doing and you can spend hours talking about Jeeps, off-roading, obstacles on the trail, mods made to their Jeep, etc. If you like this stuff, you'll be in heaven.

Rubicon Springs, which is where base camp is, can be summed up as this - outdoor lovers paradise.

 

You can walk up the trail a bit to the section of the river which is dammed up and take a swim in a mountain lake. Or sunbath on the giant slabs of granite that surround the lake. You can kick back with a beer and listen to the piano player who played at the gazebo during all meal times. At night, after dinner, the bonfire burned for several hours and many enjoyed hanging out, listening to guitars, talking more about the day, and watching the stars. Personally, I enjoyed the lack of the cell phone and computer!

A highlight for my daughters was the chance to take a helicopter ride on Saturday where they got to see the whole trail they had come over and were about to complete on Sunday. Here is Rebecca, Norman (owner of All Things Jeep) and Hannah.

For me, I got to meet Mark Smith, the founder of Jeep Jamboree USA and his wife, along with the other great folks from the organization (Hi Glenda and Pearse). Everyone was so welcoming and went out of their way to make sure everyone had a great time. And we did!

(this is Pearse and Mark, me and Norman, and Rebecca and Hannah up front)

If you would like to see what we did, you can check out a  Rubicon Trail Topo Map, and if you'd like to enjoy more scenery from the area, pick up one of these

Rubicon Trail Videos: Jeep Adventures DVD: Jeepers Jamboree on the Rubicon Trail

View More Photos of the RUBICON TRAIL JEEP JAMBOREE USA 2008 from Jean and Norman (us).

Use this link to check out our entire All Things Jeep Photo Album that includes lots-o-jeep-photos.

 

 

 

 

Tags: rubicon trail, Jeep Jamboree USA

Stock Jeeps Worry Us No More

Posted by Jean Wnuk on Fri, Aug 22, 2008 @ 12:21 AM

One of the very first t-shirts we ever made when we launched http://www.allthingsjeep.com/ was the one that said "stock jeeps worry me". Tongue in cheek, it poked fun at the people that buy a Jeep and then do nothing to it to beef it up for off-roading.

Well, we've changed our minds. Stock Jeeps DON'T worry us anymore.  We just got off the famed Rubicon Trail with a bone stock 2008 Rubicon Unlimited and we were rather impressed at how it performed. The Wrangler Rubicon has 4 basic components that make it trail ready - front and rear lockers, an electronic sway bar disconnect, skid plates (man, we used those) and rock rails (and these too). It performed well. We were surprised. And pleased. 

Tags: rubicon trail, stock Jeeps

Social Networking and Me

Posted by Jean Wnuk on Tue, Aug 12, 2008 @ 12:50 PM

http://allthingsjeep.ning.com/

Pulled it together in about 20 minutes. Just testing.

Do you think it has potential as a place to hang out, chat, learn, share, pass the time?

Tags: ning

Jeep Christmas Cards in August

Posted by Jean Wnuk on Sun, Aug 10, 2008 @ 02:10 PM

This is the time of year we plan our Jeep Christmas / Holiday Card designs for the season. We have 6 designs going right now and last year we did a boxed set of all six of them.

 

 

This year we're debating on designs. I'd like to see a 4 door JK (I don't care if there's some folks who still say it isn't a "real jeep". Not true.) I've talked to more "newbie" Jeepers over the past year who came into the fold via the 4 door. Let's welcome them in. We've already done a Willys, Cherokee, and a bunch of Wranglers. What are your thoughts. What should our next holiday card be?

Tags: jeep christmas cards

Native Species

Posted by Jean Wnuk on Fri, Aug 08, 2008 @ 05:48 PM

/am absolutely thrilled with our new t-shirt design we just completed. It all started with a design we did two years ago, called "I'm an indigenous species"

 Well, great concept but it never sold. After polling many a Jeeper, I've determined that 50% of our customer base has no idea what indigenous means.

Main Entry:
in·dig·e·nous 
Pronunciation:
\in-ˈdi-jə-nəs\
Function:
adjective
Etymology:
Late Latin indigenus, from Latin indigena, noun, native, from Old Latin indu, endo in, within + Latin gignere to beget - more at end-, kin
Date:
1646

1 : having originated in and being produced, growing, living, or occurring naturally in a particular region or environment <indigenous plants> <the indigenous culture> 2 : innate, inborn synonyms see native

So now you know, in case you didn't. In any case, out of that brilliant idea came the K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid) version. Simply put...

It's available on women's v-neck and men's crew neck dark brown, pigment-dyed tees and they look great. The material is super soft and the tee is $20. Support the cause and spread the word.  See the NATIVE SPECIES TEES HERE.

Tags: native species

V*A*C*A*T*I*O*N

Posted by Jean Wnuk on Wed, Aug 06, 2008 @ 11:18 AM
We're going on vacation. We're going on vacation. (When you read this, please go back and read it again, but sing it in that sing songy voice that is super excited and semi-obnoxious to its listeners.) We are going on vacation to Reno, Lake Tahoe and the Rubicon Trail. In just 3 more days. We are joining Jeep Jamboree USA to do the Rubicon. In their vehicle! We'd rather take our Scrambler out there, as its the rig we've used for 10+ years and we know it inside and out. But shipping or trailering it from MA to CA would be a bit out of the reasonable price range. So we'll take a new Rubi out on the trail and appreciate the fact that any trail damage will not occur to our vehicle. I wonder if I can get an internet connection out there?

Tags: rubicon trail

RE: Jeep Dog Days of Summer Contest

Posted by Jean Wnuk on Tue, Aug 05, 2008 @ 10:46 AM

We've gotten all sorts of entries for this contest but this one is so funny I had to post it. Enjoy.

"Hi There, Just couldn't decide which picture to send.  We have 3 dogs who love to go jeeping, Annie, Petey and O.D.D.  Annie and O.D.D. are rescue dogs that love any attention they can get. O.D.D. stands for Other Damn Dog, cause he was the last one we got and couldn't remember his name.  He came with the name of Kibbles and we changed it to Kirby, but kept calling him Hoover  (wrong vaccuum cleaner).  We now just call him O.D. for short, but it causes some reactions in the vet's office when they come out and ask for Odd.  People really look at us like we are odd.  People also look at us a little strange when we are jeeping down the road with 3 dogs.  We are done dragging home dogs now cause we can't fit anymore in the Jeep, however we do have 3 Jeeps, so if only one of those dogs could drive we could drag home a few more. 

Summitted by Lois W

See the entire Jeep Photo Album here:

 

Tags: Jeep dogs, jeep photos