Jeeps... JeePs .. and more JEEPS! Was it ONE thousand? FIVE thousand....... never seen an official count.... but it rocked.

Well, our third time here... and worth it! Once last year's came to an end, we were planning on this one. Of course, with our 2nd home at the epicenter here in MS, it's sort of a no brainer. We did offer our home up for others, but they couldn't make it. Mark Kennedy had a Doc' appt that couldn't wait so they pulled out a week prior. Doug Washabaugh had an emergency situation and had to pull out at last moment. Davis's were able to make it from Arkansas.

We rolled in a week early from Texas with Lucy's Jeep (Rita) on a trailer. We'd talked about just driving it, but we had too many things that wouldn't fit in it this trip so rolled it on my car hauler and headed down the road. The plan is to get a high end DS18 system installed while down here at 'show' prices; well .. that was the plan anyways. So a week out we're headed to MS! Gets us here almost a week early and we get the opportunity to hang with our family here locally as always.

I'm reaching out to my DS18 contact here locally and told they are shutting down their shop about the time I roll in to prepare for the upcoming show so I'l meet up with them there, and have it installed right after the show. Hmmmm... okay . guess that'll work but wasn't the way I wanted to do it. That Tues the Davis's roll in late evening and we're now in 'vaca' mode for the event. Days at the pool, finding places for dinner, catching up, and riding around in the Jeeps enjoying the invasion of Jeeps on the coast here for "Jeeping the Coast." We've been hanging with the Jesse and Daniela now for a dozen years and become close friends. We live about six hours from each other which has always been a hinderance but always made it work between bike rallies and work related events for the most part. This is a first for us since they bought their first Jeep last year. Daniella is fanatical about her new Jeep so this trip was a no brainer!

Crazy how the time flew by ... Every day consisted of Pool time... then find an excuse to get out in the Jeep(s) to grab some grub .. or beach time ...or "Pub time" somewhere. Of course, much of that time was just hanging out here at the home just catching up with each other. By the time Sunday is here, it's as if we blinked and.... five days were gone. Arrrrggghhhh... We're soon saying our goodbyes as they load up their Jeep Sunday morning with his new Tee on from Lucy's. We'd been there for some dinner on the beach side, finished with Tequila shots with a Scorpion in them... BAM! Now... we got the Tee Shirts!

Still, this felt a lil' off to me overall. Pablo and Beth didn't have their Jeep (in the shop). Doug didn't make it. Kennedy's didn't make it. But, still it was crazy. I read where someone said 5k jeeps were here. Not sure if that's true, but looked to be easily over 1K. And Everywhere you looked from the Bay to Biloxi .... JEEPS! I'm used to this sort of things at Bike Rallies, but this is just so different to me ... though technically similar. Me personally this year the highlight was the beach cruising. Last year we did it down in Bay St Louis and it felt weird; just a photo op. This year's in Long Beach felt like the real deal. Last year is was raining, so I'd skipped it but this year, it was sunny and hot! We parked it, got out the beach chairs and coolers and enjoyed the sights people watching and Jeep watching.

One thing that truly rocks here is the Jeep event is ONLY Jeeps. When we did Top Less weekends down in Galveston/Bolivar Peninsula , it'd become convoluted with other vehicles and side by sides and 4 wheelers on the beach. Everyone crashed the party and ... it was shit storm, not in a good way. This one is regulated in a way, via registration for the events to keep the wannabe's out. And to be honest I like it; the way it should be. Now that being said, you don't have to have a Wrangler or a CJ. You see Gladiators everywhere. Older jeeps.... and sometimes folks sneak in a Cherokee or other model. But .... hey .. by the book.. they are Jeeps. Funny part to me is when some of them get a lil butt hurt when people point out the obvious. Me personally, I don't care. BUT .... never occurred to me to take my Grand Wagoneer down on the beach and park it next to a line of Wranglers? Now, we were out on the town and came back down Main Street in it where it actually got attention by some Jeep Lovers... but ... wasn't my original intent. For me when I think Jeep .. I personally think "topless" capable... but ..that's just me.

Update: My original plan was to have the folks at Amplified Designs do my DS18 install on our '19 Jeep. They do this exclusively and had some killer show prices so it seemed like a no-brainer to me. But, someone sold our Subwoofer for the rear tail gate so ... I canx the entire install. Driving my '19 JL to Slidell an hour .. hour back , then back to get it .... that's 4 hours minimum of my time. So, I've decided to go back to Empress Audio in Gulfport whom recently became a DS18 dealer and did our '21 JLU a few months ago. I probably should have gone this route from the get go but I wanted to compare prices and workmanship. I was happy the first time; I'll be happy the second time. Ryan has a quote coming to me today and it'll be done before July 4th.

So, the plan is already in place for next year. Maybe we'll actually do the Saturday afternoon Parade for once .. maybe?

13 June update

"JEEPERS JEEPERS JEEPERS

WOW is all I can say!! What an AMAZING JTC22. We couldn’t have asked for better weather although it was STEAMING!!! Thank you to each and every Jeeper,NonJeeper,every participant and every person that worked their butt off to make this a record breaking year!!

We’ve already started working to make JTC23 even BIGGER AND BETTER!!

We had 1920 registered Jeeps and at least another 1000 not registered. The vendors had record breaking sales and can’t say enough good about JTC. A lot of them have said “Jen you were right y’all have the BEST FRIENDLIEST LOVING Jeepers at JTC and we LOVE them”……I know I know I’m not always right(lol) BUT when it comes to Jeepin and our Gulf Coast we TRULY have the BEST!!!

We’ve tried to read all of your comments and they are greatly appreciated more than you know!! We will learn from the negative and grow from the positive!!!

Again THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEART!!!

Mark your calendars

JTC23 May 31-June 4,2023

Ready

Set

Let’s Roll"