The First of Many

Amateur strikes again, the one group picture is blurry

The can of Guinness  was cold in my hand while we all stood too far away from the campfire. My choice of fireside beverage seemed to do me no good against the cold Utah evening. Guided by cheap headlamp I watched as three of my closest friends proceeded to recharge and retune a set of ORI struts right in the middle of a BLM campground in Moab, Utah. No race trailer full of tools, no Peterbilt hauler with a cold fridge and a leather couch. Just a few guys, wrenches, beer and a generator, in case times required the silence be broken by a spinning angle grinder. Just wheeling like it should be, an adventure all of it's own kind. 

Taylor Gilliland launches his JK aptly named Big Booty Judy up a
ledge deep in the Pritchett Canyon trail Moab, UT.

My adventure had called and I was happy I had the sense to say yes and make it happen. Being in a place like Moab brings so much of what we are as an offroad community into perspective and reminds us why we pour our time and resources into what is better termed a lifestyle than a hobby. The end run is always to stay wheeling, to get the fix of adventure that driving to work and back simply never provides. We pour blood sweat tears and good green american money into vehicles with no resale. Welders and benders are bought with tax returns and pennies saved. The extra ten dollar bill found in the dryer always ends up buying cutting wheels for that one project that just needs to get done. As long as it means we're still wheeling it's time and energy well spent. 

The beloved Ugly Truck climbing Mason Jar
in Harlan, KY July 2014

I had to return home to realize that my adventure had been happening much longer than just that week in Moab.  I looked back at all the wheeling stories and pictures and good times I've had over the course of ten years and realized I had been living my dream since I first turned a key that said "jeep" on it. Sure I haven't been racing or been a part of the industry with a stable of vehicles covered in the finest parts, but I have done a lot of wheeling, building, bashing and repeating. So much so that it's become a big part of who I am and what I am good at. So now as I start the next adventure of putting together the rig that will keep me wheeling for a long time I think about everyone else out there who is just as hooked on the adventure as I am. Were all still out here balancing family, careers, garage time, learning to weld, screwing up our first tube bends, just so we can just keep our junk together and spend a Saturday out in the woods. I think it's a story worth telling, and I sincerely hope it's a story that's worth reading. 

So look forward to build stories, trip reports, small projects, and rig features of whatever cool I see wheeling around. Because half the fun is checking out what other like minded gearheads have put together in their own garages. We all fight the same battle everyday, were all just trying to stay wheeling. Keep paying attention to my page on facebook (Facebook.com/sparepartsoffroad) for updates or follow me on instagram (@flipflopfabworx). In the meantime I'll be digging through the change jar and trying to drum up some spare parts to keep my junk out on the trail.