The complaint was... I can't stand slipping
and sliding in the winter. I want a 4wd Conversion van. You have
to understand for the past 8 years, Jill got to like her
conversion vans she had driven. I said "Jill they don't
make 4wd Conversion vans."
So we made a list:
First things first - She wanted something with 4wd...
She then said that she wanted something that
had lots of room so she could stand up in it.
She wanted something with a TV and Video
player for the kids.
She wanted something that could sit 8 people
in case she brings the kids and their friends around.
She wanted cloth seats because she doesn't
like leather.
She said it had to fit in the garage... tough
one there, I mean we have a nine foot high doors.
And she wanted something cute.
So we looked at Lexus, Toyota, Mercedes,
BMW's, (lots of conversion vans but none were 4wd)...then she
saw a Hummer. So we looked at Hummers and this is how the story
ended.
First thing on the priority list... 4wd...
Check, Got it, NO QUESTIONS THERE...!
Jill, you said you wanted lots of head room
so you can stand up in it.
Jill answered...I don't need to stand while
driving and since we can get into the seats by our own doors, we
don't need to walk though now do we... Point taken...
Jill, you said you wanted something with a TV
and VCR for the kids to watch on long trips.
Jill answered...we don't go on long trips and
the kids should read more anyway... Point Taken...
Jill, it seats 5 or maybe 6 with an optional
seat... you wanted to sit 8.
Jill answered...there is only 4 of us anyway!
Kills the Soccer Mom idea but Point Taken...
Jill, you wanted cloth seats... these are
leather...?
Jill answered... and they're heated, bottom
and back, front and rear...feel how soft and comfortable they
are.
My response... No complaints there... I love
Leather Seats.
Jill, of all the vehicles in all the gin
joints in all the country, how could this fit into our garage?
One test drive home and question answered...
it did!
Now about it being Cute... well just look at
her all dressed up in yellow and black. She is Cute!
With the brush guards and tail light guards
which will never hit anything. And the smoked glass windows that
are so high up that you can't reach the mailbox anymore... And
the large off-road tires that will barely ever go off payment...
But it does have a tow hitch in rear AND in the front in case
you want to tow thing in front of you. With a long list of
creature comforts...
Power everything...you can even move both
mirrors in if you should get in a tight situation, a 6-CD in
dash changer, a Sun Roof...ok it's not a convertible but at
least we can feel the wind, Air ride system complete with a
compressor so if we want to deflate the tires before going off
road we can fill it back up after, Head phones set up in the
rear so if the kids want to hear something we don't want to.
Lots of other stuff too!
In Closing, I confess... she is cute and
finally something that I like to drive too. But talk about being
noticed, I haven't driven it once without someone commenting on
her or asking to peak inside. But heck, the snow is not going to
be a problem anytime soon...now if I can just get those off-road
tires on some off-road dirt that would give the full bottom skid
plates something to mess with...Wish with me... will ya!
Jill's Hummer Dirty
I got my wish (This one anyway - note the other wish at
bottom)! The company that sold us Jill's Hummer, Long
Hummer of Framingham, MA, sponsored and "Off-road Rally"
up at the Mountain Grand View Resort in Whitefield, NH.
Thanks to Bob, Steve and Peter, who not only designed but
built the course aptly named "The Extreme", we finally
played hard enough with the front skid plate to have to
replace it. But take a look at these shots and tell me
the Hummer, never mind the skid plate, wasn't worth every
penny. We went places I can't even express into words but
I'll try.
We started out just off the road
through TWO feet of mud maybe 75 yards long, no other way
in...and the Hummer in front of us stops...so we
stop...now we are standing in that two feet of mud and
wondering how to get out as we can no longer use momentum
as a tool. Answer...All that we had to do is step on the
gas to begin moving again, INCREDIBLE, the Hummer wasn't
even close to being stuck.
Then we went down into a hole filled
with water (check out the water line on the license plate,
inside - in between the plate and the front cover) then
over something in the water, maybe a rock or a log and
then back up the other side...No LEAKS! This happened
several times during the 3 hour adventure!
And here's a good reason why they call them mud tires
too...
There was a few times we must of hit
forty-five degree angles. We had one tire in a small
channel and the other on the embankment and I thought we
were going to flip over...yet the Hummer was stable all
the way. We were at such an angle that I felt the side
door rubbing against the GROUND! Feeling rather glad for
a moment that it was over...then I remembered that
familiar spot as we came back later and we had to go
through them AGAIN...still felt like it was going to tip
over...still didn't, I guess it was the fact that I am so
used to a level road because Bob, the person running the
course, said we had at least 10 more degrees to go before
the hummer would even think about tipping.
Then over a few speed bumps...or
shall I say "Tree Bumps", 10 inch logs felt like it was a
stick as we went up and over so easily that you can't
imagine - Thank you for all that ground clearance. So now
I realize that all the medians in all the parking lots are
fair game. Over more hills, through more mud, through
more pot holes...but these were really big pots...we're
talking 3 to 4 feet round AND deep. Only big enough for
one wheel and low enough to pick at least one of the back
wheels off the ground.
Did we get stuck...NOPE! I would
have bet that we would every time we approached another
obstacle but every time the Hummer just went through
it...whatever "it" was. Then there was this really BIG
mudhole all the H1s were going
through and the fun began when Tifeni yelled out "Come On
Mom". Well the whole crowd picked up on it and began
chanting... "Ya Mom, come on Mom!". That's was when Jill
got her "medal of honor" as not only being the ONLY Women
Driver to go through the mud pits...but one of very few
hummers to go UP "Mud Slide" Hill...(did I tell you about
the one that slid into the trees?). Then after she went
through all of it, I heard someone tell another, "We'll
there will be no excesses for kids not making it to school
on a Snow Day"
But I know
you all want to know if it was fun...so I close on this
picture as proof... Until the next Hummer Rally!
And I will incontestably verify what
they say is true, "Hummer - Like nothing else!" And then
someone as the rally said...well, we must be "Hummer
People - Like nobody else!"
Now if dreams can come true (again),
help me wish that I can get the Jag close to the 155 mph
limit............Hey you got to have dreams or you can't
have dreams come true...Right!
