Sand Driving Training for Leah

The Anderson’s were kind enough to watch the boys for the day while Leah and I went to the desert for sand driving training.  It was a bit hot but it was a fun day of meeting new people and allowing Leah to get some exposure to sand driving.

Leah was quite nervous at the beginning while I was driving but then after realizing that everything was under control she relaxed.  After a few hours we switched and Leah drove while I provided guidance as co-pilot.  A lot of Jeep TJs have transmission idiosyncrasies which can make you miss shifts or lock you out of gears when stopped.  As Leah discovered those idiosyncrasies she got a little frustrated.  Other then that she was a natural at desert driving.

In our team we had two Prado’s which did pretty good, two Jeeps and a really old Land cruiser.  That Land cruiser was huge and didn’t have enough horsepower to excel in the desert.  Maybe if it had been a gas version it would have been better but it wasn’t.

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The landcruiser also blew a tire which we changed.

The Land cruiser also blew a tire which we had to change.

Some lost a bumper in the desert.

Some lost a bumper in the desert.  The amount of trash in the desert really bothers me.

Toward the end of the day we were practicing hill climbing and Leah had a few failed attempts already.  Her first successful hill climb went something like this:

Me: Just try it in third all the way up instead of trying to shift to fourth.
Leah: OK
Jeep starts rolling towards the hill and quickly gets to 4,500 rpm.  Start climbing hill
R: Go go go go go go
Jeep is half way up the hill and the enigne is bouncing off of the rev limiter
L: I think I should shift! It sounds really bad!
R: NO, GO GO GO GO.
Jeep makes it to the top.  R cheers.  L smiles.

 

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It was a great day in the desert!

 

2 thoughts on “Sand Driving Training for Leah

  1. Looks like a lot of fun, I’m not sure who is more proud, Richard for “co piloting” or Leah for making it! No people hiding behind any cactus or shrubs in the middle of the night out there is there richard😂

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