NorthWest Arkansas Cachers

I had a terrible loss yesterday. I will get over it in time. The cache mobile finally died and I was dragged into the 21st century. The cache mobile was a fine but ugly looking product of the Kansas City Ford assembly plant. I think that 36 hour seven state trip was the cars last hurrah.



I think when those unexpected and unexplained lights in the New Mexico sky appeared over the car and the heater popped on after years of dormancy, I think that was either the cars last gasps of breath or it begging and pleading for whatever was in the sky to beam it up.

The cache mobile took me many places I think the average Contour would faint just looking at. Some of those trips and places did do some damage to the cache mobile. One trip, which was on a particular nasty road in Ft Leonard Wood, disabled the speedometer and odometer. That increased the adventure a little bit. Not knowing for sure how far out I was. Of course I could cheat and look at the GPS but that would make the story less dramatic. There is foreshadowing here.

On another trip, this one near Ft Leonard Wood, the gas gauge was disabled. Now the adventure factor was really up there. I did not know how fast I was going. I did not know how far I had gone and had absolutely no idea of how much gas I had left. I never got a speeding ticket, thankfully. I never ran out of gas, although I got the sputters a few times. There were several times I wondered, while out in the middle of nowhere, especially in western Kansas, if I made a mistake passing up the last station. In fact I barely made it to the pump the very last time I fueled up. I finally ran out just as I hit the pumps and rolled to the pumps. I could not have timed it better.

The sad irony is the last time I fueled it up, I put a whole tank of gas in it which I rarely do. I started driving away and the transmission started hanging. I took the car to the doctor and was told my baby was no longer economically repairable. It was going to be a $1700 repair for maybe a $500 car. So it was with great sadness I had to decide to let it go. If I had the space around here, I would have kept it for a project car. Plus it was the first car I actually ever paid off.

I put two new tires on the car last month. It had a new radio in it and a full tank of gas. After I picked out what I was going to get, not necessarily what I really wanted, I told them I was going to trade in the cache mobile. They looked at me kind of funny and asked how much I wanted. I said $500 and they said maybe.

They asked for my car keys. They said they wanted to make sure the car actually ran. They saw me drive it in, twice. I was just hoping they would take the car for me, even though I did not want to see it go. I was wondering if they were going to come back and say, we won’t give you anything on a trade but we will take it out back and shoot it for you. They came back and gave me a $300 trade for it. That helped on the taxes some. I was later told the trade was for the tank of gas.

As I was looking at my future new cache mobile, I was boring the sales people with stories of what had been accomplished in the cache mobile. I think they were actually impressed with some of the feats it accomplished. Like making it 3 miles down an extremely muddy road that was obviously meant for a Jeep or a tank. I told them that if it was six inches higher, I could have taken it anywhere.

The future cache mobile turned out to be a neutered Jeep Commander. I say neutered because it is a 2 wheel drive. I really, really wanted a 4x4 but it was not to be today. I talked them down $4000 and got a $300 trade in where I did not think I was going to get one. Plus I figured if I got everywhere I did in the Contour, I should be able to do that and better on a Jeep frame.

I finally got the new cache mobile. It took me a while to transfer all of my stuff from the Contour to the Jeep. After a while, much of the dealership staff came out to view all the stuff. I heard one say, “how did you get so much stuff in such a tiny car?” Most of it was geocaching, repelling and military gear and there was some junk too.

Not that the car needed an anti-theft device but I did use the debris in the car as a theft deterrent. It appears to have worked flawlessly. Finally I got all the stuff transferred. I then heard one smarty pants, and I am not naming names but if any one says Julie I will whistle. She said, “Hey, I think the car now has the extra six inches you were needing.” Great, now my car is being laughed as a freakish clown car of stuff.

So as I left, I did what any red blooded American boy with a neutered Jeep would do. I went and found the nastiest road I could find. It was a really dusty road with a few muddle puddles. I could hear my car laughing at me and saying, you get a semi-off road vehicle and this is the best you can do? I gave you better than that with my dying breaths.

But today is the day after and it was an entirely wasted day at work. I kept thinking about off roading even though my Jeep is only a 2x4. I was talking to my old boss about the new cache mobile. He said, “You bought a two wheel drive Jeep?” Later in the day he offered to let me borrow his Sahara Edition Jeep Wrangler to go out four wheeling. He wasn’t being nice. He was rubbing the proverbial salt in the wound. The Jeep may be two wheel drive, but it is not neutered as I expected.

It is still a Jeep. And just like with the old cache mobile you think through the situation and you can get through it. I nearly got stuck a few times. I thought I was going to have to call my old boss to come get me out but I managed to unstick myself. The first time was on the same dusty road I could hear the old cache mobile laughing at me on. Various parts of the road would make a pig very happy. I avoided them the night before because I did not want to wash and just wanted to get home.

I went back to it today when I had time to enjoy the road and wash the new cache mobile afterwards. I did the usual charge the mud pit and blast mud everywhere about three or four times. Then I backed up through it, donutted in it and then went out looking for something else. There is a lot of construction around here. There are earthen mounds in quite a few places. I found one it looked like it had a 30 degree grade on it. I pulled up and started looking at it.

The mound had tracks all over it. This mound looks like it is a haven for four wheelers on a mountain plateau. I decided I had to try it. I made it up with no sweat and I did not even take the track stabilizer off. I could not really believe the 2 wheel drive was at this angle. So I parked it halfway up and got out and snapped a picture of it with my phone. A picture does not tell a 1000 words in this case. Then I got in and continued to climb. The wheels started spinning. I turned off the track stabilization and dropped in low and the tires were still spinning. I dropped it in reverse and easily came out. Then went back up top.


Looking down


Looking up. Those aren't trees at distance. Scrubs just in front of the hood looking skyward.





So I started driving looking around for another place and I soon found one. It had a couple of creeks a small earthen mound. The ground was fairly rutted up and made for a great bouncy ride.

Then I went and got my kids. They had not been four wheeling (two wheeling) since they were very young. I took them up and down the mud road. I hit the mud pit at about 20mph. Mud went everywhere. I mean everywhere. I could not see the sky for about a ¼ second. The girls just started squealing. On the last pass, I decided to back up and stop in the middle. Not really wise moves for a 2 wheel drive. I hit the gas and started spinning in place. Liz said, “We’re stuck”. I dropped it down to 1st and took the track stabilization off. The tires started spinning but started to grab as well. I got out.

I bounced the girls around the rutty ground for a while and they really enjoyed it. Erin got bounced up high enough her head hit the over head light and turned it on. After that we went to the hill. I nearly got stuck there too. I high centered the vehicle and made a seesaw with my Jeep. I was for sure I was going to have to call my old boss on this one. Forward nothing, reverse nothing and I was starting to sweat. I knew I was one spin away from being there a while. I turned off the track stabilization again, dropped it into first. Whatever I was stuck on collapsed under the forward pressure. I went down another path and this one may have been a little steeper. I did not get out to take a picture this time.

My geocaching was a little different today. I was geocaching for a place to let the two wheel drive let its inner 4x4 out. I am not as disappointed about not getting a 4x4. I did most if not all what I would do in a 4x4. I won’t be doing any road caching for a while. I don’t want to eat up the warranty on road caches. So I guess I am going to have to talk my friends into starting geocaching and using their car. Some already have.

I will miss the old cache mobile but I think I am really going to have a great time in the new cache mobile.

At the car wash after having fun.

I sell parts for a living, could I please have a chance for your automotive needs?

Funny you should ask that. I was taking the new cache mobile down a road I know well or thought I did. The same road that took out the speedometer of cache mobile number one has claimed some damage points on cache mobile number two.

The road as I last knew it was fine for vehicles with high clearance. When I first saw the road, a Dodge Ram blew past me like it was interstate and had no issues.

Well, the road has changed considerably since then. First off, I went down it at night. I have only been down the road during day light. The road is around a curve and then it is downhill.

So I am driving, then I hit the first Woop dee doo and in the air I went. Came down just in the time to hit the next and so on until I hit the bottom. I must have been airborne off and on for about 100 ft. I really don’t get scared but I was close there.

Had I bought the little Jeep Wrangler I intended to instead of the Commander, I probably would have been testing the roll bar. I came out of my seat and hit my head on the roof. I won’t go off roading without the seat belt again.

My Jeep is a tank. I will never buy anything but a Jeep. The air dam lost a couple of clips and the plastic splash guard was ripped off. Two of the people I am up here with are 4x4 enthusiasts and mechanics. They checked out my vehicle and that was all they found. Then they wanted to go see this trail. They were amazed a two wheeler got it. Had I gone bouncing in cache mobile one, that car would have died on the spot and been buried by the next four wheeler to go by.

And to make things better, I got all three of the caches I was going for. The bad news is between cache mobile 1 and cache mobile 2, that area is picked clean. Two of them I got before. Two of the remaining ones were WELL beyond the capability of cache mobile number one.

Take your new jeep here GCH8E2

Cool beans, thanks for the tip. Don't have any here to return the favor. I have a few if you go north east of here.