He loved that Jeep. We took turns driving all nighters and red eyes to Mammoth Mountain, Yosemite, Lake Crowley and Lake Tahoe to ski and fish listening to a continuous stream of Led Zeppelin and Cream on his 8 track. My Vietnam Era enlistment was a lot different from Dan's!
Yes, I'll take the desert having fun over the jungle doing its best to kill you any day of the week. Jeeps are definitely an acquired taste and I'll say again you must be a mechanic to own one. I'm on my fourth one now. When I bought the first one, the 1948 CJ2a my Dad wisely said 4WD just gets you farther back when you get stuck. This was in the winter in NW Montana and our night of fun and adventure turned in to a walk in the moonlight back to town to enlist help for rescue as my beloved new toy was now balanced on a log hidden by the snow. Funny you should mention Crowley Lake. Back in the late 80's I parked my travel trailer at Crowley Lake while setting up an asphalt plant at the June Lake Airport so we could pave a stretch of 395 north of there. About ten years ago we spent 10 days camped at Mono Lake exploring Yosemite, and the Eastern Sierras during peak foliage season. Exploring Bodie the ghost town was a highlight of that trip but getting used to the elevation took a few days. I assume you guys ventured deep into Death Valley while you were stationed there.
We drove through Death Valley during the late night. He got off work at 4 pm, so we would leave San Berdoo around 5 pm. Before we got to Victorville we were in the dark thanks to the mountains.
We camped in sleeping bags the night before we went fishing at Lake Crowley. There were 3 of us. The next morning we were brushing our teeth at a faucet. Overnight a cab-over camper parked near us. That faucet was between that camper and the rest room. It was about 6:30 am when the door on the camper opened up. A stunning 30 something young lady walked through the camper door and stretched her arms...revealing she was only wearing a flannel long sleeve shirt (unbuttoned) and her briefs. We must have brushed our teeth 5 minutes while she walked from the camper to the restroom nodding to us as she walked by. Yeah, we kept brushing our teeth until the camper door opened up by a gorilla of a man stretching and checking us out. (Think huge Hells Angels mean looking dude, beard, long hair and tattoos everywhere.) We had our sleeping bags rolled up, packed in the Jeep and out of there in 3 minutes.
While we were at Tahoe the snowfall accumulation was over 4 feet which was great for skiing. As I said, my buddy drove it like he stole it. After sliding into the snowbank 3 times, he decided to put the chains on the tires. Instead of driving 40 mph on the snow/iced road downhill, we were going 60-70 mph. CRAZY! Jeeps are amazing, but put chains on them and they are incredible. He was passing people as he sped down the mountain. I had no idea a vehicle could do that in those conditions.
You are killing me with the vision of the young lady from the camper and I can definitely envision your hasty departure. Some of our fondest memories may be too risqué for the virgin crowd here. . I've got to know if your Jeep Pilot was from Montana?
No, he was from Seal Beach, CA, a local kid (well, southern CA). The street his home was on was about 4-5 blocks from the beach off the main road to the beach. His dad was an aerospace engineer. The house they lived in was a common size home with about 1500 sq. ft., but because of the location I bet it would be about $2 million or more now. I imagine in the 60's they paid $9-10,000 for the house. His uncle lived up in Lake Arrowhead in a log cabin. I think he was his mentor for woodsy adventure.
The V12 was very cool, when it was running.All my friends that owned Jags always joked about needing a live in British mechanic. Then there was the electrical system, designed by Lucas........."The man who invented darkness"
Eddie Ray, you and Mike are amazing. I'll call Mike and he's in the middle of tearing his Jeep engine apart, to him it's like airing up the tires............
Wishing all of you a Blessed Christmas! 2024 is wrapping up with a flurry of assignments, but I managed to fit this shoot in Thursday night at the hangar .....................
Yep. I use to have a car in the garage working on it almost weekly. My wife would drive the one operational car and I would ride a bicycle or walk to work. Then I bought a Toyota. That was a long time ago. While I still drive my 2001 Tundra daily, the Toyota Motor Company today is not what I remember. I am back to changing my own oil and working on things that break, which is not too often with the 23 year old truck. I won't buy a Toyota today. The vehicle may be nice, but the dealer repair shops here in Central Texas are not reliable.
I was always told the British drank warm beer because their refrigerators were made by Lucas. (not meant to offend our British brothers on here.). I had a MG with Lucas electrical. It was an adventure in electrical.
We were born gear heads out of necessity. I owned a lot of $100 cars I'd love to have today. 58 Impala, 60 Impala ragtop, The ragtop failed me on a date with a fine young lady when I had to crawl under it and put the shift linkage back on. Then came the 67 Firebird 400 & 71 Chevelle SS BB after I started working construction. Before you old guys start drooling about the SS, It was the worst POS I ever owned and the only car I bought new.
While I was an aerospace quality/safety engineer I had the wonderful opportunities to work with German and Japanese engineers (and Russian). My dad joke was (if you remember the old game show "Name That Tune") Germans, Americans and Japanese engineers talking about designing a product:
German engineer: "I can design that part with 12 components."
American engineer: "I can design that part with 8 components."
Japanese engineer: "I can design that part with 4 components...and it will last forever."
A 36" Westcott Beauty Dish on the right, with an FJ400 head. Two FJ400 Heads, one left and one right each with a 7" reflector and a 40 degree grid. Finished off with an FJ400 head in a 60" Westcott white umbrella shot through a white diffusion cover on the left.
I've been doing a lot of strobe research of late, looking at Profoto. They are nice, button 600 watt Profoto head runs right around the cost of five Westcott FJ400's. So far my experience with Wesctott has been exceptional.The quality of the light is indistinguishable, and the Westcott light modifiers are equally reasonable, and very well constructed.
a wannabe Porsche Speedster. Be worth some bucks today. After we were married in 76 we bought a well used 68 VW Type III Fastback. Another adventure. First year VW had fuel injection. Pull out to pass a truck or start up a hill and fuel to two cylinders would shut off. After weeks of troubleshooting I concluded it had to be the ECM (computer) and was sure it would cost more than the car was worth. Called all the wrecking yards around but no joy. Finally called the dealer in Bend Oregon about 30 miles south of us. Yes, we have a rebuilt one the parts guy said. $40! Can’t buy a sensor for that today. It cured that issue. Finally sold that one to a father and son looking for a project then we moved the next day🤪🤪
MBrewington wrote:
Beautiful family Jim but one very important member is MIA. Don't try to tell us he shot the photo.
Thanks Mike, very Blessed. That is five of our Grandchildren from our daughter's side. JIII is on a little fishing trip to East Texas, he would be very upset if he knew a photo shoot went on without him. His shoot will be on Monday.
JWilsonphoto wrote:
Wishing all of you a Blessed Christmas! 2024 is wrapping up with a flurry of assignments, but I managed to fit this shoot in Thursday night at the hangar .....................
JW... You have a beautiful family.. The Grands have all grown up
