Mike and I have been wheeling together along with other Jeep Cherokee fans for a long time. I bought my XJ in 2002, but Mike has owned his a few years longer. In 2005, we started going off on trips by ourselves; just the two of us and not a large group of 10 or 15 or 30 vehicle to slow the day down. The shorter the group, the faster one can travel and we soon discovered we were able to focus on exploration and photography of the wonders afforded along our backcountry trails.

So this blog is dedicated to us, our vehicles and the spectacular scenery we encounter along the roads across our public lands.

This is my rig at my very first group run, the 2003 SoCalXJ Jamboree. Nothing special to it, a mild lift 30" tires and a lot of undercarriage armor.



This is my first upgrade. It's a roof mount for the spare tire. Makes for much more inside the rear cargo area.



Here's Mike's Woody. It's a real sleeper. Looks very stock and clean but hides a killer suspension beneath all that suburban woodgrain. 33" tires, Ford 9" rear end, lockers and many custom touches.

I should catch you up on the fact that Mike bought another truck. Not something to replace the Wagoneer, but merely as a different vehicle for different terrains. It's a 2006 Nissan Frontier with the Nismo 4x4 off road package. I'll just call it the Nismo and I won't be starting another blog. Nismo and the Whale just doesn't roll off the tongue well.

Here's a pic of Mike and Nismo.


I grabbed the title to this blog years ago because I had so much fun going out exploring with Mike. Just the two of us. And it's a catchy title don'tchya think? Woody and The Whale? I just never bothered to sit down and write about our adventures. Bad me. Life got in the way.

I'll start with our latest adventure and with luck I'll catch up with all the years of photos and stories that I missed.