I got a call last night from a friend that moved across the state a couple of years ago. He always tried to organize a wheeling trip once a year that I would tag along on. His idea of the perfect wheeling trip is more about muddy fire roads and camping than the rock crawling that I enjoy, but the trips were always good for some entertainment. He's really an overland expedition type at heart, so he likes to pack a lot of weight for camping and such and is about ready to purchase an off road trailer to tow behind his Cherokee. This is where I had to laugh a little inside as he's telling me about getting his dream trailer (he's wanted one as long as I've known him). He's the type of driver that resorts to full throttle run up hills whever he's not confident that his rig will make it easily and this happens quite a lot. One one particular trip I was telling him to let off while spinning up a muddy hill and every time he'd let off he'd start to gain traction and moved forward, but once he started moving he'd mash it to the floor again to keep it going and end up going nowhere again. The trails that he wheels are generally tight muddy fireroads and the last I knew he wasn't into backing up on trails. Can you see this guy trying to negotiate a trail while pulling a trailer? I really don't want to be along on the first trip, but it might be worth it just to witness the experience. I can almost picture him sliding back down a hill and stopping jack knifed around a tree.
The other part of the conversation was that he had just replaced the engine in his Jeep. When he lived near me it was burning about a quart every three months and since he'd always stop by Jiffy Lube for an oil change about that interval it never seemed to be an issue. After moving he wasn't in the habit of getting the oil change and managed to go more than a year without adding or checking the oil. He didn't say what happened when it stopped working, but he thought it was at least four quarts low out of six. Now that he lives in a place that doesn't have easy access to an Arco gas station and a new motor, hopefully he'll check the oil from time to time and keep this one alive.
