Introduction

 

This is a series of ongoing dated reports and commentaries on our 4x4 world, Jeeps in general, trends and other related topics where we are at in the 4x4 world since the beginning back in about 1940 when the first bobtail, short wheel base 4x4 Jeep type vehicles appeared on the scene and changed the off road experience forever more.

Too, there is going to be topics and subjects and tips that may be of interest to the Jeep - off road public, here domestically and over seas as well.

Probecho......Spanish for "Enjoy".

And comments are always welcome through the email address at the front of behold the rage

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Update For 4-22-2005

As we move along into the future from this 40 year mark with Jeeps (1965-2005), many things have changed and happened over the years with me, Jeeps, and life in general, all of which in concert causes one to sometimes reflect a little bit. I mean who would have thought, least of all me, that I would go from the first photos below, a cowboy-lumberjack, to the photos of me at NASA and so on. Wild ride it has been so far. I hope the next half of the voyage is as incredible as this first half. A grand and disturbing adventure.

From drinking from my cowboy hat in the place called Boondocks ( I kid you not!) California in the Sierras, from running skidders and CATs and logging, to the photos that follow at NASA and being the first candidate for the artist in space project.

 

My second Jeep, a 1953 CJ-3B, and it was 1967. I was 14. Note the 4000 lb. hand crank winch.

 

Cowboying in the Sierras when I was 15. Getting a drink of water from my hat from Paynes Creek, high in the Sierra Nevadas. I was logging as a lumberjack and cowboying in the summers when my folks left Montana for California for a number of years.

 

Building road and pioneering with a 1937 RD-7 CAT caterpillar tractor. This was my first 'cat' and I loved being a 'cat skinner' as operators of these machines are still referred to for a moniker. I was 16.

Building road now to finish. Backblading the finished trail. This will now be a haul road for the logging trucks to get to a log landing about 1 mile behind me in this photo. I ended up being a good operator with heavy equipment and it all seemed to go right along with my love affair with Jeeps. It was 1968 here. My beloved Jeeps...........

My dearest daddy, whom I so love(d), when he was my age now--52, talking with me on a CAT tracked backhoe while doing work on the ranch. My Golden Retriever, Riley, loved Jeeps and machinery as much as I and would ride with me as I worked all day long, as he is studying the greatest dirt digger (he loved to dig in the dirt with his paws) he had ever seen. He worshipped this CAT and me too, of course.

But like all the people and dogs that I have ever loved, my daddy passing away December 20, 2004, they are all gone now, all of them, and I am alone on the voyage as I find myself now.........

 

Then, as the years passed, I went on to become a fire fighter for the Forest Service and here patrolling a lightning fire somewhere in the high country of Montana on a sultry summer night.......

Then, in New Mexico, became a Heli-Tak ( Initial Attack Helicopter Firefighter), riding helicopters into fires, being air and ground dropped in, and then staying in the middle of nowhere until whatever wild fire it was was FDCO (FIRE is DEAD, COLD, OUT) and then evacced to base and then another fire, and another fire, and another........... It was 1973 then.

Then, onto being a Squad Boss on my own fire tanker for the State of Montana Division of Forestry, and here, stopping with all three tankers on the Plains MDNR District in Montana for a much needed lunch break in 1975,

 

After landing in a chopper, we generally had to hike and pack in to the fire itself for some distance. Good job and exciting, as one might imagine. But it sure wasn't for the meek or weak. Fire kills, sometimes, but I sure loved it.

Sometimes it was over 105 degrees and being close to a wildfire too, well, it gets really warm. The wind had come up and the fire was right on the border of being surrounded by me and my crew boss, or making a run. It stayed and died, this one, but "dry mopping' a fire was rough work with no water, but the surest way of making it absolutely cold out by the time we were picked up and evacced to base camp.

My own tanker, #518, for the State of Montana, Plains, 1974. Each tanker had a 3 man crew with two fireman and one Squad Boss.

And the entire fire crew in Plains, Montana.......Me, second from far right and #518, my tanker....It was 1975 then.

 

And then, I became an artist (The Image Section --In Oil and Digital). I was 'discovered', as they say. Things went wild quickly, and I traveled the world. It wasn't enough though, so I applied to NASA for the NASA-Smithsonian Documentation Program (NASA Copernican Site) and got refused.

Then, applied again in a month and finally got accepted. I then went on to get involved with an Astronaut and fell in love.

I became a world renowned artist. (NASA-Smithsonian Visions Of Flight Brochure )

It was a grand time. I was 29 years old by then.

Photo Courtesy: NASA, Bob Schulman, NASA Astronaut Protocol Director-Documentation Office, and NASA photographer.

Me, on assignment at the NASA-Dryden Test and Flight Facility, the California-West coast landing site for the shuttle return. My 5th NASA assignment. It was 1982.

I went on to be a candidate to become the first artist in space (Robert Stephens Working With Kindergarten Children-NASA Artist In Space Project ).

 

....and I fell in love with her, Judy. This was her Mission Crew photo for her first flight to space, STS-41D, onboard the then brand new orbiter, OV-103, Discovery and its maiden flight.

......and on January 28, 1986, at 11:37 AM, everything changed.....

STS-51L, Challenger, ......and the dream of space flight and for me being the first artist in space, fell down along with love and space ships and in terrible travail of heart and soul, this event for me was very great. (Farewell! Astronaut Judith Resnik, 51-L, Challenger )

 

But time passed. I healed after a few years as time fixes things somewhat. And I went on to be a consultant at times for NASA-JPL as well as continue to paint for them, as I have done for the second Space Shuttle Tragedy, Columbia, STS-107.

 

From time to time I am ask to consult for NASA-JPL (Jet Propulsion Lab) on re powering and gearing for the different generations of the Mars rovers. It's mostly because I am an expert on gearing, drivetrains, and gear reduction and resistance, and micro motoring small to medium size motion dynamic devices. Here, I am discussing the latest final drive ratios for the 4th gen-rover system upgrades. I also use this experience on VEX and its mods and my Jeep over the years past.

What this rig does, above, for real, is true 'Rock Crawling' with a real purpose and job to do. NASA photo

And here, at the Martian lander robotic mock up where remote and robotic tests are performed for landing and ops performance. NASA photo

Me and dear friend , Tom Hanks, as his host at NASA Kennedy Space Center, Launch Control Center, for the STS-96 mission.

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And now, they are all gone, everyone I have ever loved deeply; lovers, parents, wives, astronauts, and so many more. But in the end, now, I remain, and what has sustained me in this for all this time is the Lord, and in earthly pleasures, this thing pictured below and all the ones that came before it since the beginning, 40 long years ago.

 

Behold.

2-5-2005, me and VEX. And I am now nearly 53, come May 9th. And this is all we are now.........

But, the adventure continues.........

 

 

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4-15-2005

 

40 Years...................

4-15-1965 - 4-15-2005

 

Today, it is my 40th anniversary with Jeeps and Jeepin......

26 of them. They all have been wonderful.

It started here, when I was 8 years old. I feasted on this photo of my daddy in his war scrapbook, in his Willys MB at age of 22 on the Island of Saipan in the South Pacific, during WW2. I wanted to be like him and I wanted one of those Jeeps so bad I could taste it. I saved for 4 years. I finally had $204.60 when I was 12-13. I put it all down and financed the Jeep below for 24 months for $11.34 per month through Wells Fargo Bank, my folks co-signing for me. I bought it for $450.00

From this, in April, on the 15th, 1965...............

....to this, April 15th, 2005...........

...and it seems like only yesterday. The gulf of years blur as they pass astern with wonder and smiles.
And at the final end, the memories will be very great.

Behold.

1965-2005

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The State Of 4 Wheeling-Off Road For 2005

It has come down to this, for now. The 4 wheel discipline in its entirety has been 'eco whipped' into thinking that somehow if we even smudge a weed off its stem, we've hurt mama' Gaia. And this collective brain washing has even infested all facets of the 4 Wheel culture.

I will offer a series of solutions for all of us in the next installment here that may be helpful or useful to the less and most frustrated amongst us who are tiring of seeing our country slowly shut down. It will open a new world for some, especially those living within a few hundred miles from one of our national borders, in particular, Mexico.

See you in a bit.

 

 

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