BigBad408
Observer
The Jeep was loaded up and traveled from San Antonio, TX to Charlotte, NC. Not Overland. It's 18 hours on the Interstate at 80mph. The Jeep was burdened by a hideous purple 75lb suitcase belonging to my wife and daughter, who would be visiting colleges while I disappeared into the mountains with some friends.
The weather didn't cooperate for our plans in the northern NC mountains the early part of the week. Snow, low 20's and high winds weren't on our list of things to enjoy. We were there to have fun, not "tough it out". I will say that my offroad experience level is roughly zero on a scale of 0-100. So my friends decided we would hit a trail called flatlands in northern Georgia. In the rain. Georgia red clay is known for it's traction when wet. Oh, and then they said "it's probably the toughest trail we'll do all week". Great....
As we dropped into the trail I was pretty uncomfortable. I was very familiar with Georgia red clay and its traction levels when wet from years of racing motocross in the southeast. I think my nervousness was sensed as the CB lit up with "Just follow my lines, I have the least capable jeep here. If I can do it you can". In my head I thought "more capable Jeep does not make up for incapable driver...."
Had I walked the trail beforehand I honestly think I would have refused to go down it. But once we were in, we were in. Once we got to the bottom I could not believe my Jeep had just went down that like it was nothing. Then they wanted to go back up. It went back up like it was nothing. This was Georgia clay. It was raining. It was greased snot. It was STEEP. There were big ruts and spots where you were leaned so far that the mirror was inches off the trail wall to the right or left. The Jeep did not care. Day 1 and the Jeep had mud and it's driver was confident that the Jeep was far more capable than it's driver.
The weather didn't cooperate for our plans in the northern NC mountains the early part of the week. Snow, low 20's and high winds weren't on our list of things to enjoy. We were there to have fun, not "tough it out". I will say that my offroad experience level is roughly zero on a scale of 0-100. So my friends decided we would hit a trail called flatlands in northern Georgia. In the rain. Georgia red clay is known for it's traction when wet. Oh, and then they said "it's probably the toughest trail we'll do all week". Great....
As we dropped into the trail I was pretty uncomfortable. I was very familiar with Georgia red clay and its traction levels when wet from years of racing motocross in the southeast. I think my nervousness was sensed as the CB lit up with "Just follow my lines, I have the least capable jeep here. If I can do it you can". In my head I thought "more capable Jeep does not make up for incapable driver...."
Had I walked the trail beforehand I honestly think I would have refused to go down it. But once we were in, we were in. Once we got to the bottom I could not believe my Jeep had just went down that like it was nothing. Then they wanted to go back up. It went back up like it was nothing. This was Georgia clay. It was raining. It was greased snot. It was STEEP. There were big ruts and spots where you were leaned so far that the mirror was inches off the trail wall to the right or left. The Jeep did not care. Day 1 and the Jeep had mud and it's driver was confident that the Jeep was far more capable than it's driver.
