1st Post, 1st time wheeling - thanks....

[Bailey59]

After reading about the January adventures in GWNF I decided to do a bit of "exploring". It took me a week to convince my wife to let me take her 01 Sport off road (note to self - do not buy another 2wd pickup, then you won't have to ask - lol). The weather was perfect for a "newbie" as all the trails were dry which made it much easier. I did learn a few lessons:

1. The stress factor is much higher when the vehicle is new & costs a 1/2 of your annual salary than when you're driving an Uncle Sam "loaner".

2. Pictures lie, lie, and they lie a bit more.

3. Maps are fine, a built in compass is nice but I will have a GPS next time I venture out.

4. If you do the driving you WILL hear about "having all the fun" for at least the next few days.

5. The Explorer is a LOT more capable than I would have thought & the combination of 4Lo and a SOHC 4.0L provides an amazing amount of "grunt".

Just wanted to say thanks to all the folks here who posted GWNF experiences - it provided great motivation! Here's a few pictures from the day.

An example of pictures that lies - lol. This is a hill near the beginning at Taskers Gap (hard right & up hill). It doesn't look very steep in the picture.

Here's a couple of shots on Dunkle Hollow Road (hey, it was the vehicle's first "water crossing" - lol), you can see how dry the area is.

 

[Ray Lobato]

Nice pictures,
Glad you finally went out and saw for yourself how capable your Explorer is.
Of course you know that you just got hooked and there is no cure for this.

 

[xlt-sport]

bailey59

congratulations!!

like ray said, you are hooked and will have 4 wheel fever the rest of your LIFE!

all you can do is feed it!

take a little roadtrip to spruce knob [highest peak in wv] and seneca rocks.

there are a lot of fun forest roads to be had up there.

peter

 

[Brian1]

Nice pictures! I am glad you had fun and found out what the xplor can do. I always like water crossings!

 

[Jason_25]

Cool!

Looks totally different from we went with all the snow........

 

[Bailey59]

Thanks for the encouragement guys, it sure is addicting! The best part is that my wife likes it as much as I do (which is doubly good since it's her truck - lol).

Jason_25 -

It sure does look different. My wife & I were talking about how cool Dunkle Hollow Road would look covered in snow (we did see a bit of snow over by Tasker's Gap - in April!). We both wish we had the X then & could have joined the fun.