How It All Began:
It all started in 2013 on what felt like the hottest day of the year near July 4th. If you have ever been to the South then you know that July is normally hot, sticky, muggy, and overall unpleasant unless you are in or near water to cool off. At the time I was a single mom with a almost 2 year old daughter coming out of a difficult time in my life. My friends invited me to a Jeep race event which I had never heard of before at that point. I figured why not, it would get me out of the house on a Saturday. I had driven a Jeep Cherokee in high school which I loved, but I had no idea what off roading was at that point. Other than dealing with getting eat up by bugs, the race was pretty cool. While there I met Phillip, looking mighty fine in my daisy dukes, cowboy boots, with a baby on my hip (yes I was that girl). I wouldn’t say it was love at first sight, but after exchanging numbers and finally talking we really hit it off on many levels.
Falling in Love With Off Roading & Each Other:
Stacey Westfall said it perfectly in saying “Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere and sometimes in the middle of nowhere you find yourself”. About a month after Phillip and I met, he took me out in his 99 Jeep Wrangler which had a 8.8 swap and 4:88 gears and lockers on 33s. We went to the Uwharrie National Forest near our area to ride. I had no experience in off roading anything other than a four-wheeler so this was different but exciting. Its hard to describe with words the feeling you get riding through the woods, listening to music, and just enjoying God’s beautiful creation. You can call it crazy and most people probably will. After that day I knew that Phillip was the one, and I wanted to always be able to take the Jeep out together.
Why Do We Do What We Do?
So most people would ask, “Are you crazy?” when they find out that we take a vehicle out in the woods and use it for hard core rock crawling. I think the easy answer is a little bit. You have to be okay with the extreme nature of it, but there are so many benefits to off roading. A few reasons why we love it are:
- The community and people we meet
- Builds problem solving skills/critical thinking
- Enjoying the outdoors and parts of nature that most people never get a chance to see
- Friends, food, and fellowship (friends who feel like family)
- Stress relief
- The thrill
- The challenge and overcoming obstacles
What started out as two people meeting at a Jeep race has turned into a family of 4 wheeling their Jeep working towards possible full time travel. We recently decided it was so important to us we made some radical decisions to go wheeling more often/more comfortably. Check back here and follow our Instagram/Facebook pages to see how these changes are going and the next trips we are going to tackle. We are excited for you to follow along on our journey and share our love for off roading!
