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.

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

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.

It was a great day in the desert!