I just bought my first 4WD vehicle from a family member. It is (right now) a completely stock 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee. We signed all the paperwork on Friday, I picked up the new tags from DMV and it's officially mine!
I am one of those obsessive people who reads a LOT about things I'm interested in. Knowing I was purchasing the vehicle prompted me to do a ton of research on what fun things I could do with it. This is usually a wildly winding trip through many Google search results as I learn more and search for other related things. Of course my searching led me here to Overland Bound, and right now I have ten tabs open to various forum posts. Feels like I'm drinking from the proverbial fire hose, lol, but there is a wealth of information here. That's not to mention all of the tabs open to other related sites, so my MacBook sounds like it's trying to lift off from my desk.
Anyway, one of the forums I found here described Old NC Highway 105, and it sounded like a great way to get my feet wet in this whole overlanding thing. So my son and I packed some sandwiches and Little Debbie oatmeal cream cookies (gotta have those on a trip!), a 5-gallong cooler of ice water to refill water bottles, and our camera gear and we embarked on a day trip driving on the 105. To say that I am now I am hooked would be an understatement. We saw a lot of rigs at the various camp sites as we made our way north from Lake James to Linville Falls. It was sunny and dusty as we started, but a 30-minute rain took care of that and provided some mud for even more fun. The mud was so much fun, we brought some home, all over the sides and even some on the hood. We laughed out loud as the vehicle rocked back and forth over some of the washboarding in the curves. I pulled the Jeep up on a rock for the obligatory "look where I can park" shot.
For anyone experienced with these things, our trip might have been underwhelming, but as a first trip, it was really awesome for us. Thank you to those who run this site and all of you who contribute the insane amounts of information here that give us newbies a place to start and a path to follow--literally and figuratively--on this overlanding adventure.
I've posted a few pics below, but they do no justice to the memories my son and I will have for the rest of our lives of a fun day away from the hustle and bustle of daily life.
I am one of those obsessive people who reads a LOT about things I'm interested in. Knowing I was purchasing the vehicle prompted me to do a ton of research on what fun things I could do with it. This is usually a wildly winding trip through many Google search results as I learn more and search for other related things. Of course my searching led me here to Overland Bound, and right now I have ten tabs open to various forum posts. Feels like I'm drinking from the proverbial fire hose, lol, but there is a wealth of information here. That's not to mention all of the tabs open to other related sites, so my MacBook sounds like it's trying to lift off from my desk.
Anyway, one of the forums I found here described Old NC Highway 105, and it sounded like a great way to get my feet wet in this whole overlanding thing. So my son and I packed some sandwiches and Little Debbie oatmeal cream cookies (gotta have those on a trip!), a 5-gallong cooler of ice water to refill water bottles, and our camera gear and we embarked on a day trip driving on the 105. To say that I am now I am hooked would be an understatement. We saw a lot of rigs at the various camp sites as we made our way north from Lake James to Linville Falls. It was sunny and dusty as we started, but a 30-minute rain took care of that and provided some mud for even more fun. The mud was so much fun, we brought some home, all over the sides and even some on the hood. We laughed out loud as the vehicle rocked back and forth over some of the washboarding in the curves. I pulled the Jeep up on a rock for the obligatory "look where I can park" shot.
For anyone experienced with these things, our trip might have been underwhelming, but as a first trip, it was really awesome for us. Thank you to those who run this site and all of you who contribute the insane amounts of information here that give us newbies a place to start and a path to follow--literally and figuratively--on this overlanding adventure.
I've posted a few pics below, but they do no justice to the memories my son and I will have for the rest of our lives of a fun day away from the hustle and bustle of daily life.
