If ever there was a perfect vehicle in the perfect color at the perfect time, the Jeep Gladiator was it. The Comanche was out of production, Jeep was juuuuuust introducing the 2004 1/2 Wrangler Unlimited, and the Jeep public was primed and ready for a pickup truck.
Enter Dodge and Ram trucks, who said only THEY could make trucks under the Chrysler umbrella. Let me tell you right here and now so that we’re all on the same page: Ram makes great trucks. Really like the Laramie Long Horn. But … well, because they killed this truck, I’m not a big fan of the division. I’ll walk to another dealership to buy a Ford King Ranch because this rig didn’t go into production. Thanks, Ram.
Yes, I’d almost forgotten about this baby. I’m not as big a fan of the old Ford Bronco as I am of the newer one. Maybe it’s because the original Bronco was before my (off-roading) time. Back in the day, I was a big Ford fan, but my fandom was limited to Mustangs and Cobras. If it was blue and came with stripes, or Wimbledon White with two blue stripes … or, heck, even black with gold stripes and said GT350H on it I was in love.
More than 85,000 acres of magnificent desert are open for off-highway exploration and recreation within the boundaries of Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area. Ocotillo Wells SVRA is operated by California State Parks. To the south and east large tracts of BLM land (U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management) are also open to off-highway vehicles. The western boundary and part of the northern boundary of Ocotillo connect with the half-million acre Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, which is closed to off-highway recreation, but open to exploration by highway-legal vehicles along established primitive roads.
Jeep Jamborees are two-day, family oriented four-wheel-drive adventures. They’re for every level of expertise from novice to veteran and everyone in between.
The American Expedition Vehicles Brute Double Cab Pickup Truck is one of my all-time favorite off-road vehicles. They don’t sell them anywhere near me (the closest authorized dealer is down in Oceanside), and they’re the most expensive Jeep I’ve ever lusted after.