geekhouse23's "LIFE'S WAITING TO BEGIN" Overland & Home build and all the Adventures in between!

Oh, one of the other WI local clubs went on a "pumpkin run" in the UP. Looked like a super fun time and good, light trails with pretty scenery (for the wife). Should look to their group for more trips.

Local IL group had a coffee and donuts parking lot event. Shows you how IL "offroad clubs" are.

 

Husband of the year? Me? No! Maybe? Kinda!?

Came back to work today (after being gone for 4 days mind you) and my manager handed me an envelope with a check in it as a bonus for a project we have all been busting ass on. AWESOME!

Told the wife. She gave me the option to deposit or use it on anything I want. Keep in mind this would probably buy a full set of coilovers (front and rear). Told her that "we" is more important than "me" (and it would help the account out a bit after frequenting the card recently), BUT if year end bonus' are anything like this, Headstrong offroad is getting my order for some ADS extended coilovers.

Wife said she loves me and accepted my proposal. Now, to just be patient.

Husband of the year? Probably not. Happy wife, happy life? I'd say so.

Also, received part of my Amazon order from last week. Still waiting on the damn solenoid but I think it's coming today Anyways, some goodies were sitting on my desk when I got in:



Bit set doesn't seem bad for $7.99 and always keep things that say "lubricant" out of sight in the work area unless you enjoy ridicule.

Today's life lesson(s) brought to you by geekhouse23.

You're welcome.

 

The last time I got a great bonus, I called my wife and said "I'm buying a motorcycle."

But to be fair it was to replace the one that was stolen from me 3 years before that got put on hold for a wedding and house.

 

Ha ha nice! Those pockets are super useful. Once the YouTube channel gets bigger I plan to start setting up wheeling events in other states ... maybe you could be my IL rep.

 

Good choice. Still contemplating selling mine. It's fun in the summer, but the two other dudes I used to ride with (1) moved away and works so much he never rides and (2) the other one sold his for his baby..shit deal (kidding).

I just never ride much anymore.

I am hoping that spending some time with it over the winter will spark the fire to keep it.

To do list:

- oil change
- repair HID ballasts
- Figure out an exhaust solution; have a two brothers carbon shorty, just need to work some magic

With yesterday's "Tales from a married man" in which I played the hero, I reached out to a vendor about pricing for ADS front coilovers and King 2.0 x 12" travel RR rears (no clue when @GARSHA91 is installing his 14's, but I am getting anxious to swap my rears).

Got a quote for the fronts and rears. No clue if the rears are a good deal since you typically can't locate eye/eye shocks for the shock relocation on any vendor's site when searching by vehicle. But, the fronts came out to roughly $75 off everywhere else and FREE SHIPPING. No expiration on the deal, I just have to let them know when I am ready to order. This made me even more anxious to place that order.



I am hoping we have a mild winter since there is a lot to do on this thing; especially in the front end:

- Fix winch
- Cam tab gussets; new cam tab bolts
- New stock LCAs
- Sand, paint and fluid film the BAMF LCA skids
- Order and swap out new front bumpstops from PlasticsGuy
- Install top hat gussets from dirt designs
- RedGoatFab body mount relocation (still on the fence about going with 35's; probably just get it done in case)
- dual battery setup; need batteries and the brother-in-law to assist
- torch the swaybar off
- alignment

Rear

- need to get frame plates and a new cross brace tube to box and make the rear end solid
- XJ shackles (? maybe)
- eventually, @Blackout14 rear leaf packs
- 12" Kings or others to get rid of the Billies

Not much. Have most of the items just need time and money for the coilovers.

 

In!!

They will be pretty lonely if it continues like this past weekend. I was hoping to get a lot of pics and footage for my YT channel to raise awareness in my state and adjacent states but, it was not even worth it. Like I said, a donut/mall crawler meet beat a wheelin' trip. It might not even be worth having a rep around here. Sad really.

 

What are you talking about, it was a great 3 days of wheeling this weekend! Just not in Il.

 

Harlan?

 

Yup. 90% of the people bailed for that as well, must have been a full moon or something.

 

Typical around here. They might as well trade their yotes for Jeeps and post up at the mall for the gram. Must've seen 100+ pics of the donut parking lot meet of last weekend.

Need to make it to Harlan one time. Would like to have a few people that I know show up so it's a bit more worth it. Just my humble opinion. Biggest thing for me was going all the way down to badlands only to be alone.

I want to do a few trips, but I want reliable people first.

1) Trans Wisconsin Adventure Trail or TWAT
2) UP
3) Anywhere in Michigan. Really love it up there.
4) Expo East

Even if the wife is down, I'll just go with her like this weekend. Love my ride or die.

 

I just tagged along with a TW group from KY. Didnt know anyone just drove 10hrs to camp and wheel with strangers from the internet, good time though despite it having 4 trucks show out of a planned 19. Some light rained scared them off I guess.

Donut parking lot meet, dafug?

 

I concur.

 

Awesome. Maybe even get those leafs from ya haha. Love fishing. Fond memories of close family members fishing in MI from a very young age. Something the wife and I enjoy and look forward to passing along to our kids some day.

Yeah. That meet had a big turn out. That was planned last minute and the trip was almost two months planned. Like I said, people's priorities are askew.. anything for a donut, I guess

It just hurts when I was using this to introduce the wife to a hobby and lifestyle I enjoy and let her meet some people with T4R's and ride along in some T4R's. She really wants a T4R and I wanted her to be able to get up close to them and really get a feel for them. It's disappointing and I blame myself for her not having a good time, seemingly.

 

Should have told them about all the pics for the gram they could have gotten haha

 

The IL crowd is just a little different per say. It’s either expo guys meeting in a parking lot or it’s more dedicated trail rigs that aren’t very active on forums and social media.

We had 10 guys out in Moab last year plus Joe and Derek were in the dirty dozen for UA. Funny enough down in Harlan a couple weeks ago, we ran into like 5 guys from the SW side of the city with built rigs and one bouncer.

 

True. I guess that's mostly the case in the last year or so. There used to be events with no less than 10 rigs consistently. The local guy here that owns the 4x4 shop for Toyotas specifically put on an offroading 101 event a few weeks back that had 10-15 rigs easy show up Saturday and Sunday but it's only open to beginners. I tried registering last year because I know that it's a good turn out every time and I just want to wheel with people, but he told me either to not show up or go off on my own and don't hang around the group of I do show up. Yet, he has other guys with built rigs like mine tag along. I didn't bother showing up. How pathetic?

Seems to be about who you know..err..who you take advantage of by overcharging people for parts and labor and then letting them roll with you because your shop built their rig. Probably the latter.

 

Still need to get a hold of @NwiTACO for swapping the rears

 

I think he's no longer on the forums frequently. Obviously, you can text him, but as we know he's got a lot of personal shit going on. I almost sent him a snapchat last weekend of the intersection by him, but decided not to "bother" him. I was already pretty upset as it was and just wanted to focus on getting home ASAP.

Also, I think from now on, electrical items need to be shipped to the house and not work.

The winch solenoid said it was delivered on Monday morning at work to "agent". Packages do not come directly to their respective suites. I think this "agent" inspects all packages first before releasing them to their owners. I get it is for safety, but to hold my property for, now, over 48 hours is ridiculous.



[/RANT]

 

Like he owns the park or something.

 

Bomb squad cleared my package for delivery



Shipped weird AF too. Came in an inside out FedEx mailer envelope, wrapped in sheets of foam inside of a grocery store plastic veggie bag. Weird AF.

Going to try looking at it this weekend and swap it out if my dumb ass is smart enough to figure it out.