Home Sweet Home. :victory:
EarthRoamer XV-JP #03--I better work on a nickname--is in Portland. No problems at all, except for the 300 miles of 30-knot headwind off the port bow that I inevitably encounter whenever I take I-80 through Wyoming.
The biggest revelation of the trip was how well the Jeep drove the superslab. This is my first Wrangler and, from reading mainstream reviews, I expected a penalty-box-on-wheels for 1300 miles of 70 mph cruising. And what with the mud terrains and the off-road-oriented suspension mods, I was planning to suffer a long slog home.
Turned out to be nothing of the kind. The JK kept up fine with traffic, handling seemed safe and secure, the noise level was low and the ride was cushy. Perhaps Wranglers are just that way these days, but I suspect that the ER composite cabin really helps the structural integrity of the chassis compared to the usual multi-piece removable top. Also, it's clear that ER's Terraflex suspension mods are totally appropiate for pavement use. Anyway, I wanted the vehicle in spite of what I expected to be mediocre-or-worse highway performance, so I'm pleased as I can be to learn I have a fine highway cruiser.
The people at EarthRoamer were great. My orientation was a lot of fun, and went pretty quick since a surprising number of unusual things on the XV-JP, like the toilet, windows, and even odd plastic bedsprings are things I had on my other vehicles. They'd done a nice job of getting everything ready for my trip, replacing the sway bar disconnects (don't know why since the failure wasn't at all ER-related; just being nice, apparently), doing a few updates and getting everything polished up. As pretty much everyone here knows, EarthRoamer is a very classy organization.
I opened up the roof to show off the uber-clever LofTop, which caused it to immediately start raining and the forecast is for the rain to stick around until, oh, about June. Since it's desireable to store the top when dry, it could be up until summer.
Chris Shontz has already taken a picture of everything interesting, so here's a couple of lame pictures merely to prove she made it to my house:
Thanks again to Chris for getting the truck to EarthRoamer from Philadelphia, and thanks to all those who offered encouragement on our respective drives. And a general thank you to the Expedition Forum. It was through ExPo members' posts that I knew the truck was desireable, found the truck, knew I should buy it, and found Chris to help transport it. Thanks to all.
Now that I've got it here, if there's anyone who needs a description or picture of anything on the truck, just ask. I'd be happy to oblige.
