I got into this in the late 90’s when I had an 88 Toyota pickup and a little time on my hands. I always liked the 1st gen 4Runner’s though and, not long after meeting Chris, a well modified 1988 4Runner came up for sale in CA, where I was going to be for work the following week. I drove it home.
After a few years of driving it to Moab, and then driving it back in whatever state of disrepair it happened to be in, I decided towing it over would be nice. Still in the honeymoon stage of our marriage, Chris agreed that buying a 2001 Ford Excursion was a great idea. It’s made the trips to Moab much more enjoyable.
Fast forward a number of years, and we wanted something we could just get in and drive to the mountains, do some easy 4wheeling, and drive home. Again, Chris was enthusiastic about the idea, and we ended up buying a 2014 Jeep Unlimited Rubicon.
4wheeling in Colorado and Utah is great, as it allows us to see things we otherwise would not have. My favorite part of it is that it manages to teach both self reliance, and the utter futility of self reliance, all at the same time. Try as we might to be prepared for any situation, my buddy Matt and I have dragged each other off the trails more times than we remember.