4x4 Adventures

One of the hardest parts of preparing to move to South Africa, for Mr. Deep, was having to give up his beloved Jeep Grand Cherokee. The vehicle was only about a year old and was beautiful and luxurious while at the same time rugged and tough. I guess Mr. Deep loves his cars for the same qualities that he finds so attractive in his wife. 

There was no way we could bring the Jeep with us as here we drive on the left hand side. Even though the Jeep went to a good home, it was still sad and hard to say goodbye.

The last day with the old Jeep

Mr. Deep decided that the best way to ease his heartache would be to begin researching his Africa Jeep purchase. Before we even left the U.S., he decided to leave luxury and style behind and go full on rough and tumble.

I have to give a little pat on the back to myself here and say that I was and remain fully supportive of this plan. Mr. Deep does not spend a lot of money on himself. If he comes into some extra money his big excitement is deciding which bank to deposit it into. Also, I figured what better place to own a 4x4 vehicle then in Africa? 

Soon after we arrived, he purchased a used Jeep Rubicon. 

He then set to work transforming the Jeep into an off-road machine. For those of you in the know on such matters, here were the upgrades. He added an AEV 2.5" suspension kit, 33" Cooper STT tires, advanced rear and front steel bumpers, tail light guards and a Smitty Bilt 12,000 lb winch. He is also planning to add a snorkel and a supercharger to the engine. I have no idea what any of this means.  

The Rubicon comes standard with front and rear locking differentials. I also have no idea what this means. Maybe it means something like positraction from My Cousin Vinny? Mr. Deep says these little pieces of equipment were key to our off-roading success.

Here are some before and after pictures showing the modifications. 

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Last weekend we went out on our first 4x4 adventure.  For this first effort we chose a place called the Hobby Park. I find the name Hobby Park kind of funny because to me a hobby sounds like you are assembling model airplanes. This type of park was for motocross riding, paintball and off-roading.

The Hobby Park was a good choice because they have all kinds of trails and obstacles there but yet you are not out in the wilderness where you could roll off a cliff and be left for a pack of wild dogs to find. 

I enjoyed the off-roading. The only negative for me was that it was a little nauseating bouncing around so much. I did get out a few times to take photos and to help scope out the trail.

At one point, we were driving up a really steep and rocky hill. It took a few tries to get up and while we were trying, one of the tires slipped. A few guys were standing on a cliff above watching us. When we got back to the main gate, the guy in charge said he heard from these guys that we almost rolled over. I thought that was really funny. Imagine those guys watching us being so dramatic. I told Mr. Deep I thought this and he informed me that we did almost roll over. Hmmm, suddenly not so funny.

We came out of the day unscathed except for a few scratches on the Jeep which really are just battle scars to show that we are the real deal. 

Oh and if you're wondering what in the world one wears to go 4x4ing, camouflage of course!