Ocala National Forest, FL

Sunday was our July trail ride with the Orlando Jeep Club. This morning we met at the Kangaroo gas station in Altoona, FL. This is about an hour and fifteen minutes north of our home. We had packed all the gear the night before so all we had to do was roll out of bed earlier than normal, groggily finish a cup of coffee, and get the dog fed and walked.

We got there a few minutes ahead of the meeting time so that we could get some gas and get parked. Jeeps just kept coming and pretty soon we were parked two deep along the north side of the parking lot. When it was all said and done we had well over forty jeeps for the ride.

Before driver meetings we have a vehicle inspection to ensure that everyone has the required gear. Each vehicle must have a CB radio, fire extinguisher, first-aid kit, a tow strap, and front and rear tow points for being recovered in the event of getting stuck or breaking down. That is the minimum. Most carry more, such as tools, special recovery gear, air sources for filling tires, and over-sized jacks.

The inspections took a good while since there were so many jeeps. While the inspections were underway raffle tickets were being sold. Once each quarter we have a pretty nice raffle during the monthly ride. High-end stuff is usually raffled off, so a bunch of tickets get sold.

At the end of the driver meeting everyone’s attention was focused on the trail director as he announced the winners of two Extreme Hi-Lift jacks. Many of you are not acquainted with these, but they are heavy-duty jacks for lifting the tall jeeps when changing a tire. They have many other uses, which makes them pretty popular, but can be dangerous to use. You have to be careful when using them. Anyway, one of today’s winners is a first time new member! How lucky can you get?

We broke up into two groups to ride different parts of the forest. Our group was about thirty minutes into the ride when we had to negotiate some fallen logs. Since the group was so big this took a little while. As we stopped to let the stragglers catch up I heard a loud PSSST!

The jeep two vehicles behind us had a tire sidewall give out, most likely from being damaged by one of the logs. Guess who it was?

Yep, the lady with the brand new jack! Her husband got to put it to use right away. He got to try out his new compressor rig for airing up tires, too, but in this case it was for powering an air wrench. It turned out that since he had not prefilled the air tank it was taking too long to get enough air to be of use, so a CO2 tank was brought over to speed things up. 

Pretty quick we had the spare mounted and the group started to head out. “Not so fast”, we heard from the rear. Turns out our unlucky driver was double hexed. He had run that compressor from the battery without the engine running, and the battery was now dead. A quick jump and we were ready to get under way. 

All the jeeps met up at Blue Sink, a terrific swimming hole way in the outback of the National Forest.

We enjoyed a picnic lunch before heading home. It was a good day. One of the things I really like about these rides is that I get a chance to learn a great deal about jeeps and off-roading. So far, thankfully, I am learning by assisting others out of predicaments rather than having my own breakdowns. Life is good!