Of course I'd love it if each contributing member gave at least a brief, "How I came to be here," post. Maybe mention your vehicle at the time and now.

But this is mine, one of the two founding members.

I'm usually Background Guy. I like that shady spot. I can see it all from there, do what needs to be done, and then step aside for the people that actually like the spotlight. At church (college group days) I noticed from my corner that no one planned events, made flyers, had a website, so I took on those things. I did it for a long time without anyone noticing who was doing them, just that they were getting done. A planning committee was formed for the college group but I refused to join. That involved people and bureaucracy and I was just a consultant of sorts who still managed to set up strange (sometimes dangerous) fun events. A kid from that group, Jared (Spshl J) had an idea for an event and contacted me because of this and we set up an apocalyptic party with all the bells and whistles. We later derived and set up many more events down the road.

Eventually I would have to pop into the special planning group every once in a while to share plans. It was the only time I interacted with others. There was a quiet, then-chubby same age kid in the other room always on the computer playing games. He was the adult-leader's son, Chris (Offroadaz).

One day the gamer no-longer-chub called me and asked me if I wanted to go out with him. He sold his sweet old Bronco (I had an old GMC) and got a new bone stock Jeep he wanted to find new places with. It was a weird concept to me but I finally said ok and we started driving around aimlessly in the desert. He had a book of trails and he had me navigate him through some of the easy ones. We started hitting up mines in Cleator, and tooling around Lake Pleasant and Seven Springs. I remember he would never let me contribute to gas which was good because I threw newspapers at the time and was paying for ASU on my own.

My sister, Dana (Yellowsub) had received a used lifted Red YJ for graduation a couple years before in 2000 and eventually started coming out with us. We started hanging out on the FR42 and camping on the Verde, doing CK, and Sunflower. One time Chris got stuck out at Sunflower on a date and Jared and I drove out to rescue him in Jared's stock 4x4 Frontier. It banged around like crazy out there and he kept accidentally hitting the horn and the washer stick. Jared also managed to get that thing out to Martinez cabin where Chris continued on with us in his newly lifted Jeep. That was enough for Jared and he finally broke down and got his own Jeep. We were three strong now.

I became the navigator and mechanic then, and started finding new places for us to get out to. Chris put a camera in my hands since I was always out of the vehicle spotting them through anyway.

Now that we had pictures and stories, we had to do something with them. We used to post up on Rockcrawler's forums and then Jeepaholics.
The first webpage I put together unpublished was an FR42 camping and river tubing trip for fun: http://www.higherground4x4.com/return_to_jeep_island.htm

Dana was loving the adventures but the YJ was ridiculously stiff and she was jealous of Chris and Jared's coils so she got a Bright Yellow stock TJ and started modifying it immediately.

I made a homepage (luckily the wayback machine only has 2004 http://web.archive.org/web/20040922231154/http://www.higherground4x4.com/ and not the horrible 1st homepage before it) and then started listing what the coolest three Jeeps in the world had on them: http://www.higherground4x4.com/Jeeps%20Drivers.htm
I also came up with our first logo (the offroad fish) to sum up our little Christian Jeep "club."

I moved in with Chris and that house became the Jeep house. We staged there, repaired there and partied there. My sister made me quit newspapers. I started selling their takeoff parts for them on ebay and after seeing me in his shipping store often, the owner asked me to sell on ebay for him. He eventually figured out I was good at getting things done and design work and switched me over to that. That owner disappeared, another came and went and then I was running it all by myself. I was there for over 10yrs.

Chris and finding these new places is how I got into Photography ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/skatchkins/sets/ ). Finally knowing that AZ is not just crappy looking desert got me moving around looking for more places to discover. Designing first for church flyers and then for this website is my experience for my graphic design job ( http://armchaircrisis.com/ ).
My exploration spirit has been moving ever since.



Earliest group shot I could find was 2004: Spshl J, Offroadaz, Yellowsub, Jogi Blanto, Me

I never really knew Michael until I dated his ex-girlfriend.

It was 2002 and I was obsessed with reading books by banana hands and financial gurus. One of the recommendations they made was to actively find and become friends with people you want to be like. I probably wouldn't have even noticed Michael if it hadn't been from dating andria, she had some nice things to say about him. Michael and I had both been active in the college leadership group at the time and I thought he might be fun to hang out with outside of church. It was hard to relate to most of the other people in the college group, technically I wasnt in college and was already working a well paying full time job as a SysAdmin for American Express.

It took a few tries to finally convince him that driving around in the desert would be fun. I think his biggest complaint at first was that AZ is ugly and no one wants to take pictures of cactus. I had to bribe him with finding old mines and ghost towns.

After a few trips out I perma-loaned Michael my old Olympus e300 (i think thats the model)
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In 2003 I convinced Michael that having a website to document our trips and photos was a good idea. I think he kept asking "but who would want to look at it?" All that work with no visits would be discouraging. We actively posted on rockcrawler, jeepaholics for several years before starting our own forum.

Around 2004 I finally bought a house and Michael moved in to help cover the mortgage. About a year later I started dating Megan and he helped provide some pointers on how to impress girls. Remember, I have a hard time with my sensitive side lol

In 05 I bought a new house, and Michael moved over with me for a little while until I married Megan in 06. By that time our club had nearly quadrupled in size and we were actively doing runs and planning trips.

I like this thread.

I don't remember time frames very well, but I was working with Adolfson & Peterson, around the age of 18-19 I met Jim Florence (Hackle) on one of my jobsites. He was my electrician foreman on the job for little over a year. Always talking about jeeps and rock crawling, I really had no idea what he was talking about. So, he invited me out one weekend.

We went and ran Die Hard with the Arizona Rock Rats. It was a large group, but the only faces I really remember are Woodys and Joe Daros. After that, I was hooked. After a few months, my tax return came and I went out and spent way to much on a 2000 Cherokee Sport with a 4 inch lift and 31s. That jeep was my learning jeep, what to do, how to do it and what you should never do..

That led me to VJC, and after a couple runs with them I decided I needed to find a better group of people to wheel with, because most of them are idiots. Don't remember how, but I stumbled upon HigherGround via a link on VJC. Honestly, the only reason I decided to post is because I thought the wheeling fish logo was awesome, and it gave me hope that at least a few people on this board were decent people :)

My first event, which was incredibly nerve-racking for me was attending a Christmas party at Bobs house with a bunch of people i had never met before... lol

After that, I dumped more money into the XJ, got my girlfriend (now wife) hooked, so she sold her car and bought a ZJ which became our primary wheeling rig due to selling the XJ to pay bills. Then the ZJ became an horrendous money pit, and its last straw was the motor throwing a bearing. I parted that out, then bought my Dodge. And I"ve been beating on that poor truck since.

Avis wrote:I like this thread.

Was it your or Caleb that showed up at a chili cook off?

offroadaz wrote:Was it your or Caleb that showed up at a chili cook off?

I showed up for one on the west side I believe.

Mikes sister was hot and had a jeep. I stayed for Mike.
;)

offroadaz wrote:Was it your or Caleb that showed up at a chili cook off?

You are thinking Caleb. First time meeting us.

More story than that, Bob.

fatbob309 wrote:Mikes sister was hot and had a jeep. I stayed for Mike.
;)

LOL

Been in the game since 99 when I had a 96 Bronco on 32's and thought CK and Box Canyon was the hard stuff. Went back to speed in 01 with a 00 Mustang GT. Kept the Bronco for a few months then sold it and the Mustang.
Picked up a 00 TJ in Feb of 02 with 3200 miles. No not 32K... 3200. Did the 4" lift and 33's thing. I bounced around from eep to Jeep for a while. XJ, Full size Jeep... Ended up with a cheap TJ that was only going to be a DD for a few months. Stupid black Jeep ended up being 5 years.

As for clubs. I started with VJC, P4x4, and JU. Also was a founding member of NMVJC (still friends with all those guys). There were some other clubs that were offshoots that never made it. I was looking for a club that wasnt going to be doing all Sunday runs. (Sundays were for Church and Jeep fixing)
I was on JU and found some post by Mike or Chris (I noticed the fish) and sent them a PM asking what side of town they were on. It had to be the far west side. I signed up on HG and hit up movie night with them at the drive in. They havent been able to shake me since.

I found Bob's first contact to me: 10-18-2006

What church do you go to? I'm looking for a new one.
Thanks
FatBob

Shortyly after that I ended up going to his church on the east side for a yearish.

His second one in response to if he had a cool Jeep was:

Nope mine is too ugly to be used in trail pics. They used mine as a tripod.

And it was shortly after we had an almost all Bob club calendar.

I do remember the your sister is hot conversation lol.

I think after meeting Bob at the movies, Michael made some comment along the lines of "his face is hairy then I expected"

offroadaz wrote:I think after meeting Bob at the movies, Michael made some comment along the lines of "his face is hairy then I expected"

He wasn't hairy back then :)

Skatchkins wrote:He wasn't hairy back then :)

nah he had a half beard thing going on

Oct 5, 2010. A crazy hail storm rolled into Phoenix and destroyed everything. My beloved 2003 supercharged Pontiac Grand Prix GTP looked like a red golfball, as it was all covered in dimpes and dents. At that time, I started attending hunting trips with my brother. Everyone in my hunting party drove a Toyota Tacoma. I wanted to be different and have a vehicle that would outperform theirs. I started researching the heck out of awesome offroad vehicles and decided I need a Jeep. Mid October 2010, I purchased a 2009 JK. Hated it ever since. So much to learn, so much I can bolt on, so much possibilities and I could see it being a money pit. NO! I said to myself. I will keep it stock.

Then I meet Michael (Skatchkins). He worked at a print shop and I was his mailman. I noticed the offroad stuff in the shop and saw a HG calender. We got to talking and eventually I joined up in November 2010. This club has been bad for me. I see all these cool looking jeeps and it makes me feel that I need to throw money and modify my vehicle.

Bumpers, tire carriers, rockers, skid plates, BB lifts, shocks, winch, electrical mods, CBs, jerry cans, Hi-Lifts, tires, gears and lockers... the list keeps growing. Michael's words haunt me occasionally. "Friends don't let friends drive stock". Now I have a heavy, gas guzzling, non-aerodynamic 4WD that looks cool, even when it's standing still.

Being so new to the offroad scene, I didn't have much to contribute. I had a few technical write-ups for JK specific mods, not much. I used my membership here to learn about what "not" to do on the trails. Most of my vehicle education came from other forums that were dedicated to the JKs. I think I was the only JK at the time. Jared (Spshl J) may have had his before mine, but it got smashed by an elk and then it disappeared.

I didn't tie in the club name and the fish logo. Michael had to clue me in that this was a Christian offroad club. I don't attend church anymore. Haven't since I was a teen. I refer to my bible every now and then, but I guess I can't be considered a practicing Christian. I wasn't sure how I was going to fit into this club. I actually thought of leaving soon after joining. Thankfully, you guys accepted me for who/what I am. My first real meet n' greet was on April 2011 when I came out to the Coves.

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Then the Wallow Fire benefit car show. That's where I finally got to meet most of you guys. Daniel (Avis) won Best in Show, HigherGround4X4 got the Spirit Award, and I won a $50 gift card to Tagliani's for something that I don't remember.. probably a booby prize.


I really didn't get my hands dirty until I showed up at Geoff's (Showboat) house to help a man with a dream. Alan (alanzona) wanted to go FAST and race in KOH. My first wrenching party.

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3 years later and I feel like one of the old farts around here. I get to talk about firearms, do write-ups on JK specific mods, share some old man advice, pretend I have a jeep worthy of KOH, and loving life, and hanging with my friends at HigherGround4x4.com

Life is good!

Im glad you stuck around!

fatbob309 wrote:Im glad you stuck around!

Ditto! I keep getting fascinated with all of your other real life stories too. You add a lot to the board and to our collective "life experiences". Always good to have a voice of reason within this crowd. :-)

My turn.

I don't have an exciting how I met you guys story, but every story since is full of excitement, narrowly escaped danger, and serenades (mostly from Michael).

Lenny, my father in law, and I had our vehicles in a car show at CCV a long while back. We were walking around and saw a bright yellow jeep and a few others there with HigherGround 4x4 stickers. We weren't sure if these were from real wheelers or if they were just for looks. We looked under the jeeps and found scratches and rub marks like they've known the rocks intimately and we figured these were the real deal. No one was around so we grabbed a couple cards and moved on. I checked the site a few times after that but didn't really jump in until I think a chili cook-off. The first real wheeling trip was with Russ and Bill. That trip has since been deleted for legal purposes, but you guys let me stick around anyway. Colorado is the trip that sealed the deal for me. Len and I had a blast and look forward to the group trip every year.

I just re-read this and it sounds like Lenny might be my wife. he is not.

The thing I like most about this group is that the majority of you are believers and you look at everything we do as an opportunity to reach out to help and share with others. My best memory of this group is that Sunday morning in Colorado on Imogene Pass when we sat around the fire and Alan shared his testimony and his life journey with us. I still think of that when I need a reminder that God has a plan for us and that even when we don't know the next step, He does and it's always good. You know how to have fun and you know we have a purpose.

Thanks for letting me wheel with you guys and making me feel like part of the group.