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Steven’s S13 History
My interest in Japanese sports cars started when I was young. My childhood gearhead neighbor bought a 1st gen Mitsubishi Eclipse, natural aspirated, manual transmission model. He took me for a high-speed ride where he attacked a curvy section of road near our homes. From then on, I had a deep interest in lightweight sports…
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Nice Pieces and Shiesty Units
When we’re in the shop, we don’t always do a great job, find components in good shape, or stay on track with getting work done. Here we’ll see some of the sketchy parts, rigs, and shenanigans in the shop and beyond. We’re a band of idiots I swear. My T-case oil pickup screen full of…
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A New Adventuremobile Part 2
In part 1 of this build series, we left off after replacing the heim joint steering and crusty front brakes and then taking the first test drive to town. In part 2 we’ll review some necessary repairs, adjustments, and changes to get this rig ready for camping and exploration. With reliability in mind, I opted…
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A New Adventuremobile Part 1
After many years and miles in my (mostly) Blue 1998 Jeep Cherokee, I admitted to myself that that build didn’t achieve the goals I set years ago. The intention was to be a hybrid between a trail rig and an adventure travel vehicle. I ended up with a machine with lousy road manners, making it…
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TN Travels Pt. 3, GA Travels Pt. 1
In late March of 2019, 4 of us headed west again to Tennessee and eventually found our way to Georgia. It’s still cold in the mountains this time of year. Prior to this trip, our 3 Jeep XJ Cherokees were in pretty rough shape. We spent considerable time on the tools to improve the mechanical…
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Tennessee Travels Pt. 2
In the summer of 2018, Wes and I headed west to the Tennessee mountains. For this trip, we started in the southeast corner of TN for two nights and then headed north to spend a night near Watauga Lake. During our first TN trip, a lot of my cargo space was consumed by my spare…
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Kayak Trip 2022
In June of 2022, 3 of us camped in Uwharrie National Forest for two nights with the primary goal of kayaking Falls Reservoir. We loaded our kayaks on our roof racks and filled our coolers with beer and steak. We later learned that we should’ve fitted Nick’s XJ with a new alternator. Navigating the OHV…
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Uwharrie Randoms Pt. 2
More random experiences over the years in Uwharrie National Forest. Andrew’s green machine, Nick’s old Jeep (that I recently purchased in 2024), and my rig posing on the Falls Dam trail in 2018. Andrew’s doggo popping out to say g’day. I had a late arrival on this solo trip. Setting up my tent with…
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Tennessee Travels pt. 1
The mountains of eastern Tennessee are one of my favorite places. The roads, scenery, people, and camping have never been short of excellent to me. As of June 2024, I’ve taken 3 overland camping trips to Tennessee. This post will focus on the first trip but don’t ask me to pick a favorite. Our first…
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Uwharrie Randoms Pt. 1
Recently I’ve been digging through my photo archives back to when I first started 4 wheeling at Uwharrie National Forest. There are hundreds of pictures from back then, but I’ll keep it brief for now and share a few and the stories of them as best I remember. This is my friend Wes’s old jeep…