My Family Jeep

When you buy a Jeep you join a special group of people known as Jeepers; with this purchase comes a responsibility to acknowledge and wave to other Jeepers. Failure to wave takes away your Jeeper status and demotes you to the status of a wannabe.

I was convinced the Jeep wave was dead until riding in ours with my husband driving. He gets waves, I don’t and I find it frustrating. Why does he get waves and I don’t? Does the sun bouncing off his bald head make him easier to spot?

Its not the Jeep I drive, I drive a 2 door Rubicon so I drive a “real” Jeep and at first glance wouldn’t be perceived as a four door driving soccer mom. It’s not that my Jeep is hard to miss, its such a bright shade of red they can probably pick it out from the space station.

I don’t understand it but I really hope that the Jeep wave doesn’t die. I’ve always loved knowing there are other nuts out there like me that have a passion for their Jeeps.

We went home over the weekend and made a last minute decision to take the Jeep. For the first time in months there was finally one day without rain and figured we’d enjoy it just in case the sun didn’t come out again this summer. It was a beautiful drive home via Eureka Springs and an even more beautiful drive back via our favorite short cut. When friends ask me why I moved to Arkansas I email them pictures of the beautiful landscapes that surround this area. This is not the Arkansas people think about; the North West corner is a little slice of heaven. It is an outdoor enthusiast’s paradise and in my opinion one of the best kept secrets in the Unites States.

Our favorite little short cut starts on Hilltop Road off of Highway 43 and cuts through to Highway 412 at Osage. It technically is a short cut and the first time we took it in the Yukon it was faster. We have had a lot of rain in this area recently and the road has suffered some erosion in areas. We have no problems with this but it has slowed us down.

This is the beginning of our Journey, Highway 43

After turning off Highway 43 you are greeted by rolling hills and the beginning of the dirt road

The first part is very well kept; the next five miles are beautiful tree covered roads with loose rocks and some erosion from recent floods.

Coming out of the trees you are greeted by a beautiful view

This is followed by two low water crossings

The view before entering Osage is beautiful.

We didn’t stop to take pictures; these were all taken out the front windshield.

So to all of you that ask why Arkansas, look at the pictures above, that’s why.

Saturday May 3 was Go Topless Day, I found something about it on All Things Jeep. I searched for local events, found nothing so we decided to have our own topless day. We dropped the top, strapped in the kids and headed for Hobbs State Park. There is a walking trail there called the Van Winkle Trail that we decided to walk. Its half a mile long and my 19 month old walked the entire thing, even the uphill part, not bad for someone who has only been walking 5 months! Here’s a couple of mommy has to brag pics….

I had no chance of Georgie looking up, there were way too many sticks and rocks to ever grab her attention.

Ethan enjoying the ride in his Jeep stroller

We found a dirt road and as normal when we find a dirt road we have to know where it goes. The curiosity has found us some amazing scenery over the years. This time it had us turning around a mile later. With all the recent rain we’ve had the road was cut short by a puddle that looked more like a lake. If you look behind that beautiful red hunk of metal you’ll see our roadblock.

Sunday since the weather was even nicer we decided to head up to Roaring River State Park in Missouri and drive the Sugar Camp Byway. We of course took the first dirt road we came to and decided to see where it went. It was about three miles of beautiful tree covered road with one mud crossing and a lot of loose rocks. Once again we hit a rather large road block; this time in the form of a tree. The little speck in front of the tree is my 6’1 husband.

I can’t believe in one weekend we managed to find two things that not even the Rubicon can get by. Despite not knowing what’s at the end of either trail we feel pretty satisfied. The kids both loved being off the beaten path and going topless and that makes us happy. My husband and I love the outdoors and it’s important to us that we can spend time doing things like this with the kids.

For the next 10 months we are living about an hour and a half from home during the week. We took the Jeep home last trip and took a “short cut” on the trip back. The road we took was a gravel road between Hilltop and Osage in Arkansas. It looks as if it is normally fairly well maintained but given the recent flooding there were some interesting parts to it. It was a beautiful drive and that is half the fun for us, going off the beaten path and avoiding the tourists that are starting to take over NW Arkansas. I am not a patient driver and getting caught behind someone going 35 in a 55 with no way to pass really ticks me off. I don’t mind tourists taking their time and having a look around, it is gorgeous here this time of year. I do mind tourists that do not pull out and let the line of 10 cars behind them they are holding up get by.

Now that my 19 month old can repeat anything she hears I really have to watch what I say when driving and not being able to swear at idiot drivers ticks me off even more. Tourists add about half an hour to what was a short quick little trip. Driving the Jeep adds an additional half hour, she doesn’t zoom around the corners or fly up the hills at the same pace our Yukon with the V8 does.

Here are a few pictures from the road.

This is a groomed part of the road, I was driving so my husband was probably holding on for dear life with his eyes closed over the rocky bits.

There were a few low water crossings

Here’s an old barn right before coming into Osage

Its a short cut I’m sure we’ll take again.