After a few years without a light truck, and having come into a small amount of play money (and it really was a small amount), I decided it was time to shop for something fun. And at just the right time, a Jeep became available right here in town! I used to drive an '88 Grand Wagoneer and loved it (see Michael Shimniok's Troubled Child pages for an idea of what I'd wanted to do with mine before things changed for me in the mid 90's and I sold it), but wanted something smaller and more practical than that. It was either to be a CJ-5 or a Series III Land Rover (which I'd still like to have). Different philosophies behind those two vehicles. One might say I swing both ways...at least when it comes to cars (I've lusted after some Fords and some Chevy's!).

I asked my wife, she said yes (much to my surprise), so my daughter and I went to look, closed the deal that day, and brought "Bob" home the very next morning.

I'll document our adventures, Jeep projects, etc., within these pages as we play with it, modify it, etc.

Why "Bob" you ask? Well, when our daughter was younger she was a fan of Veggie Tales - good stuff whether or not you believe in the underlying message. I had a red Dodge Dakota which came to us with a Bob the Tomato keyring so the truck was instantly named "Bob" and our green Honda became "Larry" (the Cucumber). The Dakota is gone, and a new red car coming into the family simply had to be named "Bob" again. So there.