Howdy from San Antonio!

[majormadmax]

Howdy all!

My name is Mike, although I usually go by 'M2'

I am a retired USAF intel officer living in beautiful San Antonio, Texas. I have had the "Wrangler Itch" for years, and finally scratched it last Saturday with the purchase of a 2005 Unlimited. It has been a blast being a Jeep owner, I love the sunrider top and the couple of off-road excursions I have done have been a hoot!

Here's a couple of pics of my new beast...





She's a little dirty as I was playing in Culebra Creek near where I live. Normally it is dry, but we've had a lot of rain over the past few weeks so there are large bodies of standing water. It was a little deeper than I expected, but the Jeep took it fine even in 2WD. I had some "seaweed" hanging underneath afterwards, a little is visible in the second picture behind the front tire.

I expect I will be taking her out on more adventures once I get over the shock of the difference in gas mileage coming from a car to a Jeep. I live on the foothills of the Texas Hill Country, the perfect place to take the top down and go cruising.

Cheers! M2

[RAT]

Holy crap! Culebra creek. One of my freinds from high school had a sister and brother-in-law (ariforce) that lived right by there. We used to ride our bikes there. Man does that bring back memories. Are the mosquitos still man eaters out there? Oh, I'm born and raised in El Paso.

Welcome to MJR! Nice Jeep. And I thought you said it was dirty. That's trail paint!

Kurt

[majormadmax]

Kurt

The skeeters haven't shown up yet, but with all the rain we've had over the past few weeks I suspect they'll be bad this summer. But being originally from Florida--where the mosquito is the state bird--I am used to them.

Right now I am on the hunt for places to off-road. I found some nice Jeep trails along 211 just outside of Government Canyon, as well as my little jaunt in the Culebra Creek area. Unfortunately access is a problem in Texas, of the 172 million dry acres (excludes submerged coastal lands) in Texas, 4.5 million acres, or 2.6 percent of Texas land, was in the public domain as of 1994 (source). So most of the land here is privately held. I learned this when I moved here and wanted to mountain bike. There are some nice state parks and natural areas, but there aren't many areas that allow what the state calls "full-sized off highway vehicles (OHVs) (list here). I am trying to find some local Jeep owners to see if they do any "beginner's drives" in the area.

Cheers! M2

[RAT]

Well, if'n you were in West Texas I could direct you to many a good wheelin spot. I know that the public/private land war in Texas has been going on forever, but I know there are plenty of places, you just have to be adventurous and go hunting, which you say your'e doing. So good hunting, and keep all four on the ground...

Kurt

[sarah]

Welcome aboard! Nice lookin' jeep

[steelman]

Welcome! Nice to see you made it over here from that 'other' place!

[Guest]

Sweet ride. Maybe you should meet up with us over Memorial Day at Katemcy!

[RAT]

Sweet ride. Maybe you should meet up with us over Memorial Day at Katemcy!

How's that song go, Lubbock in my rearview mirror...

Rat

[Mike]

Wow Rat, you've been everywhere...what? Witness Relocation Program?

Hey M2! Welcome to MJR. Feel like we've known each other for a while :wink:

[majormadmax]

Thanks Mike, you've been a big help in resolving the part problem I was having. If everybody on this forum is as friendly and helpful as you were, I know I am gonna enjoy it here!

Cheers! M2

[steelman]

Glad to see that you two were able to hook up! :thumbs_up

[Mtbikbob]

Beginning to feel like we all are 'jeep connected" all over the country. Welcome M2. Most of the folks I have meet here are 'just like Mike'.

[TrAvELAr]

Great looking Jeep. Welcome aboard M2.

[majormadmax]

Thanks everyone! I finally got the entire top down this weekend, after finding the ellusive 'tension pin' that was missing on the Sunrider. At first everything was going hunky-dory, until I had to pull the o-ring out on the driver's side. The sucker didn't want to move! I tried everything to no prevail, then I finally thought of using a small flatheaded screwdriver and wedged it between the o-ring and the bracket. Success! My 9-yr-old son and I took it offroading a little bit yesterday...

Vid 1
Vid 2
Vid 3

Yes, I did make my 9-yr-old jump out and run down the trail so he could film it! But he loves it, and did a great job!

We went to a Texas National Guard Museum Muster today at Camp Mabry up in Austin. Sorry guys, but we wimped out and took the Honda Odyssey as we had to get an early jump and none of the rest of the family was in a very good mood having to get out of bed so early in the morning. As such, I needed luxury (i.e. DVD player and heated seats) to sooth the savages. Anyhow, there were WWII-era Willys there giving short rides to and from the demonstration area, and we had a blast! Actually, I was surprised at how comfortable they were, not as bad as I expected. We used to see a ton of them in Belgium, a lot of the locals grabbed them after the war and still pass them down or sell them. It was nice seeing the "grandfathers" of my TJ, and to actually ride in one. One of the owners said they could be found for ~$5000...maybe once I make some room in the garage I can talk the wife into getting one!

Cheers! M2

[Mike]

Great Vids! I especially like the 3rd vid. It's cool that your son likes to go along.