About a month or two ago, a Jeeping friend Adrienne posted on one of the clubs, I follow, about Jeeping over Thanksgiving. Some place called SMORR. I was thinking it would be awesome to join since I have gone Jeeping every month since June! Love getting into the woods and see what I can take on next with Lana. Skills have been progressing and I am excites to see what I can take on this time. So I mentioned I was interested in joining. At the same time, I invited my parents to join for their first Jeep experience!
Day 1: Putting on the Miles
SMORR also knowing as Southern Missouri Off Road Ranch is about 660 miles south of my house. In a small town of Seymour, Missouri. I knew it was going to be a haul to get there. I asked my parents if we could move Thanksgiving dinner to the weekend prior, allowing us a full travel day to get there. We managed to get the family together prior, and hit the road Thanksgiving morning. Driving hour after hour listing to music, talking, and enjoying some of the quick stops.
Arriving at our hotel 10-12 hours later, I was to excited to really sleep. Yet exhausted from the drive in. So I just made sure my camera was setup and ready, GoPro charged up, and glanced over the trail map. I knew I was not going to be navigating but I always like to glance over the map to have a rough idea on the trails layout. 940 acres is a lot to memorize and I sure as heck was noting about to do that lol.
Day 2: Time to Play
Wahooo! It is time to head out and meet up with Adrienne and a few others! She posted on SMORR's Facebook page about looking for a group to meet up with to ride, with me joining as well. Kirk or 4XFools mentioned we could tag along with him and a few others from the club. He actually called me the week prior to talk about my skill level, rig setup, and more which I thought was awesome! Made me more excited to meet and wheel with him and the others. We meet up at 0900 ready for some fun in the woods! Oh but before, I got to meet Sarah, Adrienne daughter, other drivers, group meeting, and air down.
That brings an end to the first day. Man oh man that was an awesome day! So may awesome trails to ride. Fantastic group of Jeepers! Was fun to learn as much as I could from my new Jeeper friends. Surprised a few of them what I was capable of doing with Lana! Also, got tons of ideas for my build and upgrades that will come, in time.
Day Three: I Want Some SMORR
Next day, I met up with them all at the same time. This time we have two other rigs joining us in the fun. We figured out today's game plan was going to be a combination of easy going 2s and 3s but mix in some 4-6s for the rigs that want a more of a challenge. We were going to work our way down to one of the many hill climb areas, what gives everyone a real challenge. Stuff Lana was no way in hell going to make it through, but I for sure want to tag along and see it all go down!
Last day of the trip was spent on the road. 10 - 12 hours roughly to get home. Made a few stop for a bite to eat, stretch the legs, but overall just hammered out the miles. We all just kind of wanted to get home at a decent time. Did make one stop at the first Iowa rest stop, the barn, which was pretty damn sweet rest stop!
Reflection
Man that was a blast! So happy to meet up and wheel with Adrienne again. She is always a riot. Was awesome meeting and talking with her daughter Sarah too. Then toss in all the other Jeepers I met for the first time! What a great group, most of them belong to 4XFools club. They were nice enough to have Adrienne and I tag along with there last of the year trip. I don't know if this is my last time Jeeping for the year or not. All I know is I'm excited for next year wheeling with them again! Plus to make a few upgrades to Lana.
Thanks again everyone for the amazing weekend! Super happy to have my parents join to see all the action first hand. Heck they were talking about getting a Jeep on the way back. So maybe I sparked something with them. We will see :)
