My First Run With Oregon Jeep Owners

Re-post from another blog I author. 


Ok that's a little melodramatic. Well it may sound so to those that have not ever had the slightest chance of rolling a car. Have you ever felt  that feeling of your vehicle tipping to one side or the other? Or the gradually sliding down an incline to one side ?  The driver knows the only way it's going to stop is when it flops you over on your side. That feeling happened to a few of the guys today. BUT everyone kept their rigs right side up! No one took any major damage home. We lost a couple tires on a trail. And a few cosmetic peaces fell off. I mean really who needs all that stuff glued to the side of a car anyway ?  Dave broke his passenger side fender flare. Oh and more than one dent in rock sliders and skid plates. They did their jobs well today!

This translated for the laymen to mean
ONE HELL OF A GOOD DAY OFF ROAD! 

I conquered the one trail that put fear in my heart! Well up to this point anyway  :-) I'm sure I will find another one. Fire Break 5 for some reason was that one trail i just could not bring myself to do.  When Dave drove it I got out and walked to the top. Today I decided the hell with it! I was going to drive it myself, and I DID! So it took me twice as long as any of the other guys to accomplish this task. That is ok because I didn't give up and turn around or make someone else drive it for me. I love it when I'm able to push myself past my comfort zone and accomplish something big!

Thank you to my friend and fellow Jeeper Vincent Sortino for taking the photos of me coming up
Fire Break 5

If anyone wants to wast 6 minutes of your life and watch the video it can be found here 

Day Dreaming

I'm stuck inside working on homework today.  As I read the book I was assigned my mind drifts off to the fun that I had over the summer. I'm reading the book's "Encounters With the Archdruid"  and "Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why" both for the same class.  Both books spend a lot of time discussing the outdoors. Currently the "Encounters With the Archdruid" is taking place in the Cascade Mountains, only a bit farther North of where I live.  Dad and I did spend some time exploring the Cascades around Mt. Hood this last summer.
As they describe the beauty of the land I think of my trips with Dad. These photo's are of the weekend we Explored Bennett Pass Road.

Our Camp site off Barlow road

Quick Detour to look at the Mt. Hood at one of the Ski parks.

I always make Dad lead. That way if he falls off the mountain I know to stop :-) 

Time for a break and to take in the View of Mt. Hood from the east side. 

Somewhere along the trail :-) 

Lets hope that when I do the questions section of my homework I'm thinking of the book and not my travels! 

Sir err I mean Ma'am!

One of the things that happens frequently to a girl playing in a mans world is you get called Sir a lot.  Men who don't know you just assume a toy like I drive must belong to a man. Only way a women would drive such a thing is if it belonged to her man. Only time my man gets to drive my toy is when it is blocking his in and we are to lazy to move rigs around! :-)

Every time I pull in to a gas station that I don't frequent, or a new attendant is working I get "what can I get your sir? Oh I'm sorry ma'am"?  In parts stores men are always surprised that I actually know what I'm talking about. OY! I don't know it all, but I  know a bit more than the average woman or man for that matter. I know plenty of men that don't know a thing one about cars, and really don't want to know. So don't assume women are to dumb to know or just don't want to know about cars. There are plenty of us out there that do.

Last parts guy I ran in to had the gull to ask me " you know what the part looks like?" with shock on his face. I told him " Yes I do. I do get my nails dirty" He was not sure how to respond to that LOL

So my friend at PSC had some pink Spyder logo's made up for her and her girlfriends.  I then had a friend with a vinyl cutter make me a couple stickers that say Her Toy!  in green ( the accent color I'm going with). I'm curious to see if this will change the fact I get called Sir all too frequently.

Yes the only clean spot is where I cleaned it to put the sticker on haha

With my luck it will not change a thing, but it will give me something to point at and say "can you read?"