The 1st Experience

In 2015 I rolled my 2003 Trailblazer off the road at 45 MPH, and it flipped end over end 5 times.

I dozed off at the wheel, and woke up, I think, halfway through the incident.  Not knowing what was going on as I flipped was an intense, sensory overload experience. I was terrified. The SUV completed its flips landing upside down, and I was able to unbuckle, and crawl out of the passenger window (but not before I tried turning off the car, and stopping the back windshield wiper). I climbed halfway up the ravine to a helping hand, and waited in his car until the ambulance arrived. I didn’t hit anyone, but did hit a mailbox. The only real casualty was the Trailblazer, as it was totaled. I came out of the crash with minor cuts, a minor concussion, deep neck/shoulder tissue damage, and minor vertebrae damage around the neck. This took just over a year to heal, but I still feel minor aches on the left side of my neck.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

That crash is one of those blips that goes on your life experience chart. That abnormality that just doesn’t seem right, something you can point to and say, “that was the experience that changed my life.” The fact I was able to walk away is incredible. I still have moments of disbelief.

I owned the Trailblazer for 10 years, and I was going to keep it indefinitely. This was the first car I purchased with my then soon-to-be wife. It went with us to Hawai’i, California, DC, and back to California. This was the car that drove my daughter home from the hospital for the first time. It took me to my childhood friend’s wedding. It took us to Disneyland (multiple times), and we saw much of the Pacific Coast Highway with it. So as you can see, this car was a big part of my life, so while I had thoughts here and there of selling it, I really wasn’t going to. There was too much history between us and the Trailblazer,  so I guess this is one spectacular way for it to go out.

This is one experience I will never forget, and I’m using it as my first post because it’s what led me to purchasing my first Jeep. I have had the Jeep now for 11 months, and I’m just scratching the surface of the overland/off-road lifestyle that I’ve always been drawn to. I’m not sure why it took me this long to make this part of my life, or why it took me rolling my Trailblazer off the road to finally make the leap, but I’m sure happy I finally did.

My path to learning and experiencing the off-road world has been fun. I will share with you my experiences of navigating this hobby for the first time. I’ll share the first things I have done to make our adventures safer, and more fun. The sharing won’t stop there, though, because I’ll continue to share as I learn, and experience new things; as my family and I venture forth.