there's nothing special about this little story...just some content for the forum...
here in central florida where I live, there's lots of jeeps and pickups lifted and prepared for mud and deep water fun...thats basically what four-wheeling is about here....you don't need clearance for rocks and ledges....you need big tires to keep your floorboard dry....many of you guys that post up on this forum are lucky to have multiple, scenic, and DRY places to go off-road...
I've been trying to get with the local jeep club from time to time....they've been pretty cool considering I'm the first kj they've seen go wheeling....but they pull out the carpet and the drain plugs and hit the holes....it's fun but I'm gonna hate it when I finally ruin my interior...
the ocala national forest is about an hour north of orlando....its a large sand and pine scrub forest with a low wet environment near the st. johns river....there's no rock or significant elevation....the bars and skids are valuable though for stumps and fallen trees...you get lots of pinstripes in the brush and flooded trails in the wet areas....I met up with a few guys last weekend to poke around....nice fellas that I just met....they were surprised where the liberty could go...
brand new store bought jeep....
stuck right off the bat....
a young fella in his old xj...I pulled him out of a few places that day....
the estabilished trails are frequently slightly lower in elevation than the
surrounding scrub...so the water fills them like a canal...
of course its not always possible to drive the jeep in the interesting places and
also be outside of the jeep to take pictures....it was often headlight deep
for hundreds of feet at a time....
in some of the pictures, the water is pretty nasty....but at this area it isn't dirty...it's just the decomposing organics of a tropical state stains the water like a teabag....
the kj was able to take its place in the jeep family today...
in fairness, I was never point man...and you don't always know how deep the waters gonna get when you're first one in....but I went everywhere these other guys went....everyone of them got stuck at least once....except me....
little by little, we will all help establish the reputation of the liberty as a capable trail jeep....
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Nice to hear the KJ is performing when you're out with the rest of the Jeep family. And I would definately consider buying that Rubicon...that is one sweet looking Jeep!
Im glad you went hanging out with the big boys and held your own. I did the same here wheeling with a bunch of wranglers and it was very rough. ill be working at FCC Coleman but plan to live in Orlando or Clermont. Still doing the home search and stuff. Maybe we can get together someday and start our own lost florida chapter, dont know if there is one? Ok later
