2021 Jeeptoberfest
The Ocala Jeep club just had an event, Jeeptoberfest held from Friday, October 15 to Sunday, October 17 at Kirby Family Farm, 19630 NE 30th street, Williston FL.
Kingdom Offroad
Once again I'm attending with the Kingdom Offroad team of Josh and Jason. I really appreciate being able to attend events with people I know. On this particular trip, their families joined us as well. It was really nice to meet everyone.
Show-N-Shine
I arrived late Friday night at the Jeep Show N Shine. As always we saw many cool Jeeps. It was a mix of everything TJ, YJ, Willys, New 392's an old military Willys. It's always very fun to look at and dream about my future mods to Roamer (My 21 JLU). It definitely appears that I have a deep interest in King Coilover suspensions. In fact, I pointed them out several times to my friend Josh.
I really liked the Show N Shine at this event because there were a lot of Halloween themed Jeeps and that was just fun for me.
Jeeptoberfest
The event area was really nice. There were rides for the kids, a plethora of vendors, a train, a carousel, various food vendors, and more. There were old train cars on the property from the Ringling Brothers Circus. There was even a tree with a Mercedes in it which made everyone think of Harry Potter.
One Particular Vendor
I wanted to make a shout-out to one particular vendor at the show. I always appreciate outstanding customer service. On Josh's Jeep, his PSC hydraulic steering cable came loose on one of the Obstacle courses. This drained all his power steering fluid. His steering system was made by PSC and fortunately, they were at the event. They had all the parts he needed and he was able to make repairs in the parking lot. I feel like the PSC guy was super helpful with parts, PS fluid, the hose sealant, and descriptions on how to make the repair. Thanks for the great Customer support #PSC
Obstacle Courses
The event sponsored two obstacle courses. The first is intended for the Stock Jeeps and the second for Modified Jeeps with at least 33-inch tires and lockers. These were man-made courses and I'm sure took a very long time to build and test for the event. Thanks to the efforts of the Ocala Jeep Club.
The Stock course is really twisty and loops around in a short but nice course. It had some small hills, some trenches, and some axel testing terrain. I loved this particular course because my wife, Jamie, drove for the first time offroad in 4WD and got to learn some new skills. I'm so proud of her, she really did a great job.
The Modified course seemed like a longer course over a bigger area. It had many obstacles that included pipes, trenches, off-camber moments with some pucker factor, deep holes, Axel flexing alternating holes, and much much more. I think I completed this course twice and a good portion up to 4 times. Going through a new course is always fun but building confidence from doing multiple times is amazing.
Euphoric Jeeping
I'm going to try and describe this feeling that Jeepers get sometimes. This feeling comes after completing a difficult trail or obstacle course. It's that feeling of, "I can't believe how capable my Jeep is", "I can't believe that I just drove that", "Now that I have driven that, everything else will be easy". It doesn't matter if you broke something, had to winch out 10 times, you completed it, you learned new things, you're completely amazed and possibly earned a Jeep Badge of Honor! Its truly heightened, exaggerated, positive sense of happiness. I have personally felt this a few times while Jeeping and I know Josh felt it when he competed Beasley's Knob.
In Summary
I feel like the event was well organized and quite fun. I really enjoyed it. I wish that the event had additional trail rides. In the end, I thought it was a great experience and will do it again. For me, it's about the memories that we create with our boys and friends. Team Fray had a great time and we have so many memories!