Topless Weekend!

Noooooo.....  a JEEP Topless Weekend. Pull your mind out of the gutter!

We'd talked about doing this for a few years now, and last year locked in for '18  being a done deal!   My nephew rolled in from Mississippi with his lady, and we were supposed to have a small group of others, but as it got closer, the pussy's dropped off one by one.   All good .. .  my nephew and I had some quality time.. a great time!  And we FINALLY, got this one in the record books!

How was it?  Epic, Great event.  Will I do another one?  Probably not.  Why?   Well.. good question .....

This was advertised as a Jeep Top Off Weekend to kick off the summer.  They do this annually, at various locations around the country.  I've owned Jeeps off and on for about 30 years, but have never attended a 'jeep fest' so to speak.  You know, sort of like a Bike Rally ... I was truly looking forward to it.   As it got closer and closer, I read things like " not a kid friendly event" , etc.  Hey, works for me.  Sounds like more fun!

Galveston is a fairly small Island and if the main event had been there, could have been interesting. But, it's on the beach .. and you can't drive up and down on Galveston's Public Beaches so the event is over on Bolivar Peninsula, where you have to take the ferry over to (if you are coming from Galveston).  Lets just say .. the ferry system can get overwhelmed when you have events bringing folks to the other side there.   And this past weekend was one of them.  Waits for us , averaged from an hour to 2+ hours just to get ON the Ferry .... and this sort of thing makes we weigh the overall 'value' of an event.  Still, wasn't too bad.  We had iced down coolers, snacks, etc with us...  .. but 2 hours?  Damned.....

Once we go over there, I headed over to check out the "Jeep Resort".   This was the first year they'd set this up and they did a great job of it.  Budweiser was the man sponsor, they had dozens and dozens of quality vendors attending, had a band at least one of the evenings, a nice lil' obstacle course set up .. and .. .a dozen other things I'm not covering here.  Problem is... most people historically are at the beach, a mile inland from the 'resort' .. .so there was a major disconnect.  We hung out for a few hours, picked up some cool items, got a LOT of ideas for future upgrades, etc .. but .. like most.. we then headed.. to the beach!

This one I found interesting.  Lot of folks are taking this SERIOUS!  Lot of RV's parked down there on the dune side ( in contrast to the water side).  Jeep clubs and businesses were set up .. for miles! If you want to come down for the weekend and really kick it up, this is the place to be.  Which was part of the problem with the Jeep Resort.  Most folks are having too much fun ( IE ALCOHOL!) to head away from the area .. so .. less traffic for the commercial aspect of all this.  We saw some high end Jeeps brought in by a lot of these folks ...  some were truly jaw dropping.   And this is why I was
here.  To check 'em out!   I've got a pretty bad ass Jeep.  It's got 37's and a LOT of high end parts on it. Stands apart from most. But, when you come to an event, you suddenly realize there are a LOT of other bad ass Jeeps out there.. and many of them.. more than your own.  Respect!!! Of course the opposite is true.  The majority were either bone stock or had some basic lifts and oversize tires.  In the mix were some older CJs .. . a couple of YJs . ....  and a lot of TJs.  But by far, the newer JKs ruled the beach.  They were everywhere.   Jeeps have really come a long way over the years; it's amazing to see them all together.   One thing is really evident.  Seems like every new generation gets slightly larger than the previous.  CJs look puny in comparison to the latest generation ( and I love CJ7s!).   One beni to the older CJs is you could get with them a 304 V8 or easily stuff in a Small Black (AMC or Chevy ) ... or a large block such as an 401ci! All these generations together....this .. is why I was here.

Pau's on the left, mine on the right

Except ... we've got a small problem.  And 'small' is the key word.  In my humble opinion, you have a lot of wannabes crashing the party.  Small Side by Side UTVs were everywhere.... then throw in a mix of old Samurais, Pickups of all makes and sizes, too many cars....  and you have the mixing for a weekend beach party, of folks crashing a Jeep event to go out and play.  Do I blame them? Of course not.  But for myself and many others, it's not why we were there.  I was there to attend a Jeep event.. .not a beach party with various vehicles.   On a positive note, many of the dumb asses had to have their trucks....   sports cars .. you name it, pulled out of the sand after burying them down to the axles by.....  Jeeps.   Knowing how this normally goes, I guarantee you more than a few have damage after getting yanked on, ripping plastic and bumpers off , while being drug through the sand by vehicle that were designed to play on the beach?  Sorry .. puts a smirk on my face...

 

Problem 2 ... and it isn't really a problem .. just .. wasn't what I was there for.  This is a serious Party weekend.  In fact, it felt like a Spring Break party, invaded by the millennial's parents?  I mean, the majority of folks were teens or in the twenties.  Then you had a large mix of folks in the 30s-60s.  Many of these folks were partying just as hard!  Hell, if I'd been there 'for the party' I'd have setup and done the same but I was there to check it all out, park it on the beach and observe... participate but not find myself in the drunk tank while trying to get home, with a DUI.   So, I paced myself and enjoyed the show!  Well, most of it.  As the sun was coming down folks were starting to get crazy, folks were drunk / high, off their asses and .. time to go.  One idiot came by us on a four wheeler doing donuts and almost sprayed us with sand.  When I yelled " you best not hit us, Motherfucker!" ...  Momma' quickly determined it was time to leave... I was measuring up the douche, his buddies and the situation and .... well, in a rare mature moment, I decided she was right.. time to leave.....   and a good thing.  Because we had a LONG wait for that Ferry and it'd be after 11pm before we got back to the house as it was!


All in a all a great weekend.  One in the record books I probably won't duplicate.  It's definitely not on my calendar.  But as I always say, never say never because If I just happen to be in Galveston, with our Jeep, on this event weekend....    I might figure out when the ferry has the shortest lines?  JS