Today was the day to start getting the repairs to my Jeep started. Once I picked a repair site — a Jeep dealer — I took it up there so they could evaluate it. The great news is that they saw nothing that will keep me from driving it until they get the parts in. That’s a big relief.

And what’s the damage gonna be? Well, the bumper, bumper cover (plastic), and the steering wheel all need replacing, which is gonna run less than a grand before insurance picks up their cut. Even with all that, the repair time is about four hours. Considering the nature of the wreck, that’s amazing to me. I didn’t think you could find someone to sneeze on a vehicle for under a grand, much less do repairs.

The small amount of damage is stunning to me. If I’d only looked at a photo of the other vehicle, I’da bet good money that the damage to the front end of the Jeep would’ve been significant. Not so.

Certainly is a great testament to the safety of this vehicle… and will probably keep me in one for a while!

So… What happens when someone elects to cross their Saturn with a Jeep Wrangler? Well, here’s how the Wrangler looks:

Here’s how the Saturn looks:

Basically, this is the result of a Saturn pulling across two lanes of traffic at the behest of someone stopped on the inside lane of two lanes going the same direction. (“The lady waved me across” is the quote that I will remember from this event.) I was in the outside of those two lanes, and wasn’t party to either the decision to wave across, nor the decision to pull across both lanes. I was, however, driving the unfortunate vehicle that was in a position to t-bone the passenger side of the Saturn.

Becky and I are ok, as was the other driver, apparently. I’ve got a couple of bruises, and some soreness, but that’s to be expected.

So how’s the Jeep? Well, the bumper damage is visible in the photo. The steering appears to be off by a bit, measured by the steering wheel not being aligned right when the Jeep’s driving straight down the road. The biggest weirdness is the steering wheel itself. It appears that at the time of impact, I had a death grip on the top of the wheel… and bent the steering wheel a fair amount. Near as I can figure, that probably was the culmination of my arms being stiff, preparing for impact, and holding on rigidly enough to push the top of the wheel forward.

So we’re ok. I’m really bummed about it though, along with all the uncertainty that comes along with something like this. Deep breaths….

While driving across Kansas, I saw this sign. Being a Jeep fan, and with the optical illusion of there being no road, this seemed like a great image to grab!

This weekend, we’ve had great weather — 75° in early November. I’ll take that! With the great weather, Becky decided we all needed to get out and enjoy the surprisingly mild weather. She was right.

With the doors off the Jeep, and the roof down, we all piled into the Jeep and started driving. We took a quick spin through Route 66 State Park, visiting the museum and letting Sio learn about Times Beach from the museum caretaker and Becky. We learned that the bridge connecting the park to the museum is about to be torn down, rather than be repaired. That’s a shame really. It’d be a great path across the river to link cyclists and pedestrians to the gift shop on the other side. Without the bridge, the two halves of the park will be completely separated, with only two separate exits from the interstate connecting them. Bummer.

One we were through with Route 66, we drove to Lone Elk State Park. We’ve had great luck there in the past seeing both elk and bison. This was the first time we’d been to the park so late in the day — about two hours before sunset. As it ends up, we had terrific views of the bison munching away, and elk both lounging and wandering around.

When I bought the Jeep last year, I wanted to be able to have nature really close to me by being able to take the doors and roof off. Today was the first time I’d really gotten that chance… and it was glorious. I felt like I was walking right alongside the elk and bison — they were so close you could touch them, and so near you could smell them. It was such a great experience, and I believe I’ll try to hit up the park late in the day again.

Of course, once the warm weather wears off in a few days, I imagine the behavior of the critters may be different. But that’s fine — I can run without the doors or roof down to at least 40°!

Almost anyone will tell you that I like weather. I pay attention to the weather like no one I know. I’ve always done that, but I have an even heightened interest in it since I bought my Jeep last year. I like knowing when I can take the doors off, when I can take the windows out, and when I can keep the roof down. Today, the doors were off, and the windows were out. No biggie, I thought. After all, knowing about the weather is something I kinda pride myself of, which is what makes today so weird.

I had to go to SoCo this morning, and didn’t really pay any attention to the weather. We had gray skies, and nothing threatening, so I didn’t even give the skies a second thought. While in SoCo, I started hearing thunder. Again, I didn’t think much about it. I’ve driven my Jeep in the rain without the doors on in the rain, and never really thought too much of it. However, today, about ten miles from home, I encountered a moonsoon with rain blowing all the way across the interior of the Jeep. To say the least, I was totally soaked.

Becky (who wasn’t with me) and I started doing some damage control, drying the carpet (drenched), drying the seats (wet) and trying to figure out how to dry the thing out. We learned new things about the Jeep today — how to remove the rear carpet, and where the drain plugs are. And man, did the drain plugs need to be removed. Small rivers drained out of the bottom of the floorboard, and the removed carpet drained and drained.

Like Beck said, if you’re smiling when you’re driving, it was worth it. And I smiled. I smiled while I couldn’t see through my glasses and the windshield at the height of the storm front. I smiled when I aimed for the puddles on the road. And I smiled while we dissected the Jeep to help get the water out of it. I even smiled when I set up the fans in the garage to help dry the seats.

I’d still put a wet day in my Jeep up against a dry day in just about any other vehicle!

There are some mornings when things just click for me.

This morning, the air temperature was 49. The roof was down, and the doors were off the Jeep, leaving nothing but a windshield and seat belt between me and the glorious, slightly damp feel in the morning air. And as I plowed along beneath the slightly lightening sky, Sirius treated me to a great collection of music to fit my mood: Anticipation, If Not For You (Dylan, not John), Solisbury Hill…

Just a perfect, perfect start to the day. Now, if only my stop were the fields and meadows for some photography, or perhaps the hills for a little hiking. Maybe even the Trail for some cycling.

Yep, that’d just take the perfectomometer to eleven.

Since I took the hardtop off a few weeks ago, I’d been trying to figure out what to do with the hardtop now that the Jeep wasn’t storing it. I’d contemplated hoisting it into the rafters, but finally decided on a dolly.

I found the plans here. This was an extremely easy build! I just used scrap lumber, and was able to put the thing together for just the price of the casters. (I didn’t have any on hand.)

I didn’t do build photos — I should’ve — but you can take a look at the final stand-up, and see what you think.

Take a gander at yesterday’s post on the All Things Jeep Blog, and see if you recognize anyone!

Once upon a time, I said that I hoped my ’08 Wrangler was my last gas-fueled Jeep. While Chrysler’s latest announcement ain’t entirely dinosaur-friendly, it could be a great baby step.

Chrysler has spun up a website to talk about the Jeep Wrangler EV, an hybrid electric/gas Wrangler. They say that it’ll go 40mi on batteries, and another 400mi in the city on a combination of 8 gals of gas and some electric whizbang.

I have to admit that I’m more than a little interested in how this new-tech Jeep would perform in the big out of doors. I mean, 400mi of city-based hybridicized driving isn’t likely to equate to a whole big bunch of climbing when on all-gas.

The proof’ll be in the pudding, I guess, but I’m hoping this stuff takes off, and is able to perform like my fossil-eater. ‘Til then, it’s happy expensive trails for me!

About a week ago, I got a notice from the folks at the JK Forums (a Jeep JK forum) that one of the forum members had been killed in action in Afghanistan (you’ll need to sign in to see the page links below):

I’ve just been given some tragic news and regret to inform you that Gregory Rodriguez, also known as 150, was taken away from us yesterday while serving his country in Afghanistan.

For those of you who didn’t know, Greg was an SSD Handler (special search dog) K9 MP and loved his job very much. Apparently, the SF team and him were just outside their fire base when they started getting small arms fire. From what I was told, he suffered a gunshot wound to the head and that his death was quick.

What I knew of Greg is that he loved his country, loved serving it, loved his wife and family very much and of course, loved his Jeep. Truly, he was a beloved member on this forum who enjoyed hanging out with us and helping out wherever he could. Certainly, he had been a big help to me personally on more than one occasion and even helped to get this Armed Forces Area created for all of you to enjoy. Without a doubt, Greg is a true hero and will be dearly missed by us all.

If you would like to contact Greg’s wife, Laura, and offer your condolences to her and their family, she can be reached at the following MySpace account:

http://www.myspace.com/elmabelgrl

If you would like to share your thoughts on JK-Forum.com, you can post them on this thread here:

http://www.jk-forum.com/showthread.php?t=53498

With Sorrow,
Cindy, Eddie & the Project-JK Staff

Of course, this would be tragic no matter what Greg’s situation would be. However, being a Jeep guy, and based on an e-mail I just received, the JK Forums community has come together to help his wife:

It always encourages me how people can come together as a community and through their support, can offer strength and hope to those who have suffered a tragic loss. As most of you know by now, Gregory Rodriguez was taken away from us a week ago yesterday while serving his country in Afghanistan. And, for those of you who had been asking for a way to help Greg’s wife Laura and his family financially, I am pleased to inform you that the following PayPal account has been established just for this purpose:

barnswaller@aol.com

So everyone knows, this PayPal account belongs to Laura Rodriguez and all contributions made will go directly to her and her family.

If you are new to JK-Forum.com and/or this is the first you’ve heard of our fallen hero, Greg, I would invite you to please click on the link below and see the memorial that we’ve created in his honor:

http://www.jk-forum.com/showthread.php?t=53498

With gratitude to all of you,
Cindy, Eddie & the Project-JK Staff

I’ve gotta tell ya, the more I hear about the exploits and charity of the folks that I’ve started identifying with, the more I’m impressed with the bulk of them. I couldn’t have hooked up with a better bunch of folks.