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Our ‘New’ San Juan FC Tour Jeep

• CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

This is the big surprise… Jesse and Andrea have agreed to sell us the San Juan FC Tour Jeep that Jesse built from the cab up, along with the trailer. You can see more pics from the build here: https://thefcconnection.com/jesse_ybarra’s_tour_jeep_journal.htm

We consider this a great honor and can’t thank Jesse and Andrea enough! Jesse was instrumental in encouraging us to visit the round-up for the first time in 2012. Ever since that first visit I have wanted an FC tour jeep, but given there are only three of them, I never thought it would be a possibility.

Much more about this later, as we have a long drive home in front of us!

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Snow + Passes = Hotel Stays

• CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Me telling Ann, “trust me honey, the is a short cut to Arizona” … I don’t think she believe me! (the dually barely fit on the bridge).

Over the last four days we’ve encountered more snow and bad weather going into and trying to get out of California than we have in all of our other trips over the past 12 years combined!

On Sunday we drove from Prosser to Eugene, Oregon .. no problem!

On Monday we drove a few hours, but then stopped in Medford for an In-N-Out burger and some Harry-and-David store shopping. That’s when the snow started falling. Knowing we had a 100 miles of mountain passes to cross, we thought that even though it was only 1pm, it would be best to spend the night in Medford and tackle the passes on Tuesday.

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2023-02-28-medford3It sounded easy enough, but then I was feeling a little off, like I was really anxious or stressed and my heart was racing a bit. I just didn’t feel quite right. Then, about 4pm, Ann got a call that her aunt had suffered an aneurysm and was on a breathing tube. There was some confusion and we thought she had passed. So, given the way I felt, Ann said we should go to the local ER. So, we spent a few hours in the ER. They did some tests. We talked to the heart doc. I was perfectly fine. It’s all very embarrassing, but sometimes it’s good to share the embarrassing stuff along with the instagram-perfect messaging.

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An unflattering pic of me in the ER … Ann took a variety of pics; she was almost enjoying herself.

hmm … our conclusion is that I was having some kind of anxiety attack. Why, I don’t know. Was I nervous about snow in the passes? Nervous about the trip? Was I nervous about the feeling itself, afraid that I might be having a stroke like my father, which created a feedback look of nervousness? I have no idea! Whatever it was, things settled down that night and I’ve been fine ever since.

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July 1955 Jeep Jamboree Report from Willys News

• CATEGORIES: Features, Old Images, Old Images Jeeping, Old News Articles • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: This post originally appeared August 14, 2015:

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1) Lining up on the first really flat ground they have seen on the entire caravan, the Jeepers stop at Miller Meadows for their Sunday lunch.

This 1955 article in the 1955 July/August issue of Willys News covered the recently completed Jeep Jamboree. The author reported that as part of an awards ceremony, the award for the oldest passenger went 68 year-old Mike Millard who was a former Rubicon Springs-Lake Tahoe stage coach driver. He must have had some great stories!

On another front, compare photo #5 to an original at the online archive of California. There it is dated 1958. Given this appears in a 1955 Willys News I’d say their date is incorrect.

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Jeep Not So Hot on the Farm

• CATEGORIES: Features, Old News Articles This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: This article was originally published May 29, 2016:

This Canadian article from the November 20, 1944, issue of the Maple Leaf broke the news that the jeep didn’t test well on the farm.

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Twenty Year Old Girl Jeeps Through South America

• CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: This story was originally published August 29, 2016:

A story from the September 20, 1962, issue of the Toledo Blade (and a similar story on the 10th as well) shares the tale of Lou-Bette Herrick’s three month trip through South America. The Richmond Virginia native entered into the adventure after responding to an advertisement placed by Hilary Dunstervile for a companion to drive back to her native country of Venezuela. I did a little research on both women, but didn’t find any updated information on them. It doesn’t say what kind of jeep they used, but there is a reference in the article to camping out in the jeep, so it might have been a wagon.

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1946 Jeep Trip to South America

• CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: This article was originally published September 12, 2016:

This article appeared in the October 8, 1946, issue of the Southeastern Missourian. Mr. and Mrs. Irwin Kenyans, Mrs. Katherine McGregor Wallis and her daughter Miss Trinket, planned to travel all the way to Tierra Del Fuego in a CJ-2A. I could only find one article and one photo, partly shown below. You can see the full version of the image at Getty.

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Caption: Katherine MacGregor with Friends Before South American Trip To South America In A Jeep. Chicago, Illinois: Putting the finishing touches on their jeep before they leave for a year’s trip in South America are (left to right): Mrs. Katherine MacGregor Wallis, Mrs. Anne Knehans, Irwin Knehans, and Miss Iranket Wallis of Quito, Ecuador. Trip To South America In A Jeep. Chicago, Illinois: Putting the finishing touches on their jeep before they leave for a year’s trip in South America are (left to right): Mrs. Katherine MacGregor Wallis, Mrs. Anne Knehans, Irwin Knehans, and Miss Iranket Wallis of Quito, Ecuador.

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Toledo Blade Unveils the CJ-2A

• CATEGORIES: Features, Old Images, Old News Articles This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: This article was originally published April 9, 2015:

On July 19, 1945, the Toledo Blade published an extensive story about the unveiling of the CJ-2A to reporters. The paper is also full of interesting stories, such as the sinking of the Ticonderoga, the identification of a returning GI with amnesia that turned out to be a Nazi Agent, and the jailing of a Walnut Grove, California, woman who threatened a returned Japanese American soldier who was a POW in Germany.

A small part of the CJ-2A story was published on page 1

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The majority of the story was on the front page of section 2.
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Jeffrey Mareck’s Trip of 30,000 Mile Trip in 1966

• CATEGORIES: Features, Old Images, Old News Articles This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

The September 28, 1966 issue of the Milwaukee Journal shared Jeffrey Mareck’s 30,000 mile trip through Africa and all the way to England.

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1965 Diamant Family Trip through the US

• CATEGORIES: Camping, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: This article was originally published April 11, 2015:

In 1965 Brits R.M.E. Diamant, his wife, and three children completed a five month drive around the United States in a Jeep Wagoneer Camper. Mr. Diamant intended to publish stories of their adventure in travel magazines in the UK and the US, but his article in the 1966 Jeep News was the only one I found.

I’ve created this rough map of their journey based on the places mentioned in the article.

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1944 Article about a Soldier’s WWII Story

• CATEGORIES: Features, Old News Articles This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: Originally published March 27, 2015: 

Interesting story from the St. Petersburg Times if accurate.

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