FUN: Jeepin’ with friends at the Twin Rivers Jeep Club near Pittsfield, IL

by John Boch

I had a chance to do something new and different last weekend, and to get away from some of the insanity of the world around us following the Black Lives Matter / New Black Panthers terror attack the weekend before in Dallas.

“Jeepin'”.

At times, Jeepin’ can be compared to a roller coaster minus the rails, at least in property where the Twin Rivers Jeep Club has trails near Pittsfield, IL.  This Pike County area is nationally known for its very good deer hunting (and home to monster bucks) and much of the land we rode on is ground zero for those big bucks.

Sangamon County GSL’s Jay Ater invited my wife and I to ride with him and his wife Stephanie at one of the TRJC’s monthly events.  We had a blast.

Right away Wendy and I both saw the similarity between the TRJC and Guns Save Life:  lots of really good people working together cooperatively with one another in the pursuit of a shared passion.  And while guns weren’t a part of the Jeep group’s mission, we saw lots of NRA, ISRA and GSL stickers among the 70-plus Jeeps participating this day.  The TRJC is a Jeep-only club.

This continued on the trails as whenever someone encountered a problem, the other members were there to lend any assistance required.  Break a U-joint?  No problem.  Ten minutes later, that vehicle had rejoined the others.  Flat tire?  No problem.  Need any more plugs or a bigger, badder air supply?  Everyone had the tools and parts they needed to common parts failures, only some just had better tools.

And when Jay’s bright yellow “Short Bus” Jeep sheered the teeth off the front end gear box, we just hopped in vacant seats and continued riding in the afternoon through a whole new set of obstacles and challenges, taking them in like kids at a candy store.

For a short while I was thinking a Jeep- or Jeep-like 4×4 would be a fantastic vehicle for the end of the world as we know it, but then I looked back at all the spare parts everyone carried (barely leaving room for coolers), and looked in awe at the knowledge and skill sets at truck repair necessary to keep them running and thought, “I’ll stick with my tactical minivan.”  Jay had mentioned that you can take a $50,000 stock Jeep and put $30,000 in custom parts into it and still have a $50,000 Jeep.

Here are photos from the event, starting off with the set up and pre-ride briefing…

This was a nice warm-up, rolling over winding trails through the woods, including hills.  The first trail of several was 1.8 miles and took about an hour to complete.

Lots of grins from all involved.

Maybe they knew how things were going to get more interesting.

Then, after lunch, yet another trail, our third of the day.

Yes, he almost tipped it onto its side, but through good technique (and maybe a little bit of luck), he backed it out just in the nick of time.

And then he pulled it off, but it took a little winch work to pull him away from a rock he got caught up on.  It’s always good to bring friends with winches when you go up against tough obstacles.

Captain, we’re taking on water back here!

BadyJ met his match on this day.