The First
Jeep - 1986 CJ-7 Laredo |
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All the
bells and whistles edition. Dana 44, T-5 World class Transmission,
A/C, and cruise control. I had set this one up for rock crawling.
I had pretty much rebuilt it from the ground up over the years.
I eventually installing a Mopar fuel injection kit, a 4" Procomp
Suspension lift, 33x12.50 BFG Mud-terrain's, ARB lockers and a Warn
XD9000I winch were the big items on it. I spent a lot of time off-road
in California and then Washington State. Unfortunately I needed
better transportation for moving across the country, so it was traded
for a Toyota Pickup. |
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| The Second
Jeep - 1984 CJ-7 Renegade |
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4 cyl. (No
power accessories at all). I did have aspirations of building it
up. Even had my hands on a complete Chevy 350, and a NV4500. It
was fun for a while, but was gotten rid of to please my ex-fiance.
That was the beginning of the end of that relationship. |
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| The Third
Jeep - 1991 YJ Wrangler Sahara |
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I needed
something to tinker with, so I found a mechanically abused YJ.
I spent the next year fixing it up and taking it off-road in Wisconsin
and Illinois. Until I rode in my first TJ off-road in '97. What
can I say I was hooked? BYE BYE YJ. |
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| The Fourth
Jeep - 1998 TJ Wrangler Sport |
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After
waiting 20 days for a friend to fix his CJ I took it off-road for
the first time and backed it into a tree. Thanks to my spotter.
I easily went everywhere that the 33" and 35" tire equipped
and lifted older Jeeps went, sometimes much easier than they did.
I began to modify the Jeep slowly. Just some body armor and finally
mounting my trusty old Warn XD9000I winch. Unfortunately this got
mounted after $150 tow for a friend after he slipped off of a berm
and landed on his transfer case and axles. Well along the way I
got married (she loved the Jeep the second she drove it), moved
to Hawaii and needed 2 vehicles, so again the Jeep was sold for
2 vehicles. |
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| The Fifth
Jeep - 1999 TJ Wrangler Sahara |
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Well that
lasted for about a year before we both decided that we wanted a
Jeep again. So we found a Black '99 TJ Sahara automatic. It is the
first automatic I bought, but much more fun to drive off-road, I
can actually enjoy the view more. Hawaii is a little expensive for
shipping, so the buildup will go slowly. This is the one that I
intended on keeping. Quick update - as you can see by the
web site things change and I had really gotten to hate standing on
the brakes all the time just to keep it from running away.
I felt that the crawl ratio was that of a gazelle. |
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| The Sixth Jeep - 1997 ZJ Grand
Cherokee Laredo |
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| I intended to lift this one, but it ended
up being a daily drive, then abused by the ex-wife, returned in trashed
condition and finally died on me. RIP |
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| The Seventh Jeep - 2003 TJ Wrangler
Rubicon |
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| The origin of Wandering Trail |
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| The Eight Jeep - 2005 LJ Wrangler
Rubicon "Sahara Edition" |
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| The continuation of Wandering Trail |
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| The Ninth Jeep - 2007 2-door JK Wrangler Rubicon |
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| Okay, I was going to buy a full size truck, but we needed to replace the wife's Honda, so instead she asked if I wanted to get a new JK to play with.... Hmm, I had to think about that. |
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| The Tenth Jeep - 2007 4-door JK Wrangler Rubicon |
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| The wife came to me and let me know that putting a baby in the back seat of the new jeep was very hard and that I would need to get a 4 door if I wanted to keep a jeep in the garage. (It did take me a few minutes to realize what she had actually said, I was thinking about the options on a 4-door) I'm still waiting for this one to arrive, now the joke is who's going to get here first. |
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| The Eleventh Jeep - 2012 4-door JK Wrangler Rubicon |
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| The old 2007 got kind of tired after all the work that was done to it. We had decided that it was time to start replacing the vehicles, but needed to stagger them out. Mine would be the first, but with the requirement that it remains pretty well stock. I haven't done as much wheeling as I used to and decided that it wasn't to much of a request to stay close to stock. Plans for this one are to stay mild with everything. Most of my old parts have already been sold off. |
