Desert Day 2: Stoddard Wells OHV

Day 104

Awoken by the thunder of an off road giant. This isn't going to get old. Speed. Power. Speed and power solve many things. Out across the land you can see a trailer. That's King Racing shocks factory support. These guys come out to help race teams dial in there junk before they start an event. 

A view from out kitchen table

Is that and XJ cherokee I see? Sure is. That's what Shirley has the potential to be. 

I make some coffee and eat breakfast. I keep looking out the window at these guys and think about how much I'd like to go check out there rig. A few more trucks with trailers show up. Maybe later. Shirley needs to get the stereo install complete so we can finally have some tunes on the road. Going about my business I can't help but look over. I'm hesitating to go introduce myself to these strangers. The whole thing seems, I don't know, weird. These guys are out here with their factory rep taking care of business. Who am I to walk over and bother them. Screw it. I walk over and introduce myself to two guys hanging on to the front of the truck. Glad I did. Brian and Joey were just some regular dudes who love cars just like me. 

These guys let me crawl all over their ride and take pictures for the blog. It's a Jeep Cherokee, just like Shirley. It's running a built 4.7L stroker motor with an AW4 trans, and the stock NP231 transfer case. A full set of Currie axles and ARB lockers compliment the stock style suspension, albeit lifted and toughened up quite a bit. It's a little rough, gutted, and caged. Sweet race truck.

Still rocking the stock door panels... classy

Brian lets me know the back seat still fits inside

That's the nitrogen reservoir for the shocks

 The whole point of this journey was to get out and explore. There's something about living in your comfort zone that defines us as a people. That's something that I recognize and wanted to break on this trip. Any other day I would have watched these guys from afar and not talked to them. It can be related to an almost childish fear of not being accepted. Being rejected for not being "the cool kid" is a real thing that lingers on into adult lives for a lot of people. Think about it. Do you still retain 90% of the views you had on human interactions you had as a child? Probably. Break status quo. Meet cool people. If they treat you like crap... screw 'em.
​We spend the next 15 minutes shooting the shit and they let me leave with a parting give. A signed "Hero" card and some stickers to remember them by. Why was I ever hesitant? 

Time to get back to business. This stereo isn't going to install itself. A good 4 hours passes as I wire this thing together. Just because Shirley is an old piece of junk doesn't mean I should do shoddy work. Everything is soldered and shrink  tubed during the install.

Victory! The back speakers will get installed later. I've got another project lined up. For the time being... let's celebrate with donuts in the desert.

What a day. Living outside my comfort zone for a few fleeting minutes. Then getting right back into it with wrenching on the Jeep. I don't think I'll forget this day of our adventure. Brian and Joey made sure of that.