Pics to Come!

We ended up going to the Topless Day event at Crystal Beach near Galveston, TX over the weekend.  We pretty much had a blast!  I've got pictures and stories to tell, but I'll need to get the pics off my phone first.  I will be posting about this later!  Stay tuned!

Jeep Wave Count: Up considerably (though I didn't count waves on the beach), need to tally it up

To Adventure!

Sorry I didn't post yesterday.  And here's another one for ya:  Sorry I won't be posting tomorrow.  My wife and I ARE GOING to take a trip this weekend.  We'll either head to Crystal Beach for Go Topless Day (a "topless Jeep" event, not, you know, the other thing), or if it looks like it's just going to rain there all weekend we'll head out to find some trails in Arkansas.  Or who knows, something else maybe.  I've been looking forward to going to topless day though, there will reportedly be between 2000 and 4000 Jeeps there!  That's a lot of tricked out vehicles to check out.  Also beach camping!  If you'll recall from an earlier post we already have the Bolivar / Crystal Beach camping sticker for the year and have been planning on going back anyway.  But the mountains would be fun, too.  We'll see where we end up, I'll try to take some pics, and I'll be back on Monday with a report of some sort.

Jeep Wave Count: 39

Oil Change #1

I get a couple free oil changes from the Jeep dealer I bought from.  The Jeep user's manual says the Jeep will consume oil in its early runnin' days as it distributes lubrication throughout the car, so I decided to get a free oil change at 2500 miles.  By the way, I'm already at 2500 miles.  I'm not sure how that happened...  Seems like a lot of miles already.

I got the oil changed this weekend and the service guy said the Jeep looked perfect from a maintenance standpoint.  I hope so, I haven't had it that long!  haha  He said that the '15 Jeeps generally only need oil changes every 5000 miles.  The Eclipse people (previous car) said I could go as many as 6000, but they always put "current mileage + 3000" on the 'next oil change' sticker.  So I didn't really beleive the Eclipse people.  Side note, I'm dumb with cars.  haha  The Jeep people actually put "current mileage + 5000" on the sticker, so I guess I believe them.  That's nice.

Jeep Wave Count: 39

Gas Data

Quick update today regarding gas mileage.  First of all, the Jeep reports MPG usage, but when I calculate it myself it doesn't match.  So one (or both) of us are wrong. The Jeep reports an average (over 3 fill ups so far since I started tallying this) of 17.3mpg.  The average I've calculated myself is 16.72mpg.  That's a difference of 0.58mpg with the Jeep reporting better than it's getting.  Unless my calculations aren't based on perfect numbers, of course that's entirely possible.

Anyway, the full deets so far:

Reported MPG:	17.3
Calculated MPG:	16.72
Difference:	0.58
Avg Cost/Fill:	$36.40
Avg Miles Driven/Tank:	248.13
Avg Days Between Fills:	6

Also, my average drive time (powered-on-time anyway) per tank is about 11.5 hours.

Well, I think it's interesting...

Jeep Wave Count: 39

Death to Smittybilt

I'm sorry for anyone who takes offense at my desire for Smittybilt to die.  It's a free country.

Actually, I don't really want Smittybilt to die.  I'm sure they have some great stuff.  I just haven't found it.  So far everything I've purchased that's "Smittybilt" has been... less than enamoring.  It turns out there is a local shop with people I really like working with that carries Smittybilt almost exclusively.  Sorry guys, it was nice knowing you.  :-(

I did just buy a swell cell phone holder though!  Not Smittybilt, but Daystar.  This guy.  Jeep neat-o thing #126: There is a rubber console thingy recessed into the dash.  Neat-o thing 126.1: All of the little rubberized cubbies and such are completely removable, making for easy cleaning.  Just pop it out, bang it out or rinse it, pop it back in.  Awesome sauce.  Anyway, under the rubberized dash console dealy there is a bolt.  The bolt serves no purpose, it's just there.  Well, that's not true, it does serve a purpose- it's for you to be able to bolt things to the dash, like a swell cell phone holder.  So you pop out the old rubber dash cubby and bolt on a hard plastic piece to hold your phone.  It's a little more complicated than that, but not much.  Once that's done, the holder comes with a replacement rubberized piece that you pop in instead of the original rubber piece.  It works and looks really great!  Also, in case you are a Jeep owner wanting to remove the little bolt, after some giving up of my wallet at Home Depot as collateral to prove that I would return with the sockets that I was taking into the parking lot unpaid for, I discovered after about 5 different tries that it's a 7mm metric bolt.

Jeep Wave Count: 37

Bleck

This job thing, it just won't stop.

So I have a birthday coming up.  I have asked for about $5,000 - $10,000 worth of Jeep stuff and expect to get about, oh, $0 worth of it.  Items on my list:

• 2.5" Terraflex lift kit with shocks and springs, installed
• 35" BFGoodrich All Terrain T/A tires (crazy expensive)
• Once all that's done a custom spare tire cover (I've got ideas, but it's too soon to explain!)
• Mean looking front bumper with winch mounting space (haven't decided on one yet)
• Winch
• It would be nice to have a matching-ish rear bumper as well, possible a new spare tire carrier for the larger tire size, not sure how that'll work out
• 6.5" speakers offering a powerful Mid range (hopefully a clean replacement of 6.5" factory speakers)
• Sub (if I can find somewhere to put it)
• Sadly, probably an amp for the sub (can't I just live?) (also if I can find somewhere to put it)
• Seat covers or replacement seats
• Many options on this one
• I'm leaning toward vinyl, leather, or synthetic leather
• I don't want to stain my cloth interior with all manner of staining stuffs
• Options range from a cool Jeep towel that wraps around the seat and fastens ($30) to, like, name your price ($1500 is the highest I've seen) (and yeah right)
• Yellow SpiderShade for getting my top-down shade on
• Flat fenders
• KC lights
• BedRug interior carpet replacement
• Plastic window protector bags (for when they're off)
• Tuffy storage boxes mounted here and there
• STUUUUUUUUFFFFF

This is just top of my head stuff.  There's tons I'd like to throw on.  A Jeeper buddy of mine said that JEEP actually stands for "Just Empty Every Pocket".  Fr rlz.

As a fun counter-post, here's what I've actually put in so far:

• Rear view mirror hanger (neeeeeed it)
• Quick-remove safari mirrors for doors-off
• Grab handles
• 2x 6.5" speakers in the soundbar offering a decent (though not incredible) amount of bass
• A few tools
• Hitch extender for my bike rack
• Awesome rubber floor mats

Jeep Wave Count: Same (unknown) as last update, still haven't tallied the number.  Sorry.

Still Alive

Man, what a week.  We held a conference that we hold once a year at work and it's always a beast to get through.  We made it though!  Now for the aftermath...

Anyway, I'm not writing anything of significance ever today, just saying I'm still here and will try to pick up posting again next week.  There's still a lot of unpacking, sorting, and catching up to do today!

Jeep Wave Count: Went up, but I don't know by how much, I'll have to check my notes.

Yes, I take notes.  #nerd