New from Charlotte, NC

S

Sojah40

Rank I

Enthusiast I

231
Charlotte, NC, USA
First Name
Mike
Last Name
Medina
Hello,

I am new to overlanding and actually got introduced by watching Lifestye Overland. I wanted to start introducing outdoors and nature to my 2 young daughters age 4 and 7. After watching Lifestyle Overland I had a aha moment. Hiking with our cars, since my daughters still have little feet. We began looking at different cars to buy 4runner was winning. Then my wife decided she wanted to go camping with our dog. This decision opened up a whole new can of worms. 4runner being too small for all our gear and dog. Now we decided on a truck and is real interested in the Jeep Gladiator. But decided to wait a little while to see how they perform. I know there are a lot of people on youtube doing builds and about to go on adventures. In the meantime we have an old 1999 Jeep Cherokee I’m going to outfit. This weekend I’m doing all the maintenance transfer case, oil, differential fluid change. Maybe some bushings. Next on the list is tires. Still not decided on a lift, if any. I will be scouring and perhaps asking on some opinions during my build. Thanks for having me!

Mike
 
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Sojah40 said:
Hello,

I am new to overlanding and actually got introduced by watching Lifestye Overland. I wanted to start introducing outdoors and nature to my 2 young daughters age 4 and 7. After watching Lifestyle Overland I had a aha moment. Hiking with our cars, since my daughters still have little feet. We began looking at different cars to buy 4runner was winning. Then my wife decided she wanted to go camping with our dog. This decision opened up a whole new can of worms. 4runner being too small for all our gear and dog. Now we decided on a truck and is real interested in the Jeep Gladiator. But decided to wait a little while to see how they perform. I know there are a lot of people on youtube doing builds and about to go on adventures. In the meantime we have an old 1999 Jeep Cherokee I’m going to outfit. This weekend I’m doing all the maintenance transfer case, oil, differential fluid change. Maybe some bushings. Next on the list is tires. Still not decided on a lift, if any. I will be scouring and perhaps asking on some opinions during my build. Thanks for having me!

Mike
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Hello Mike and welcome to the OB crew....look forward to seeing your build and your adventures.
 
Hello Mike,
Welcome to OB, a bit of a newbie here too. There is a fairly active group over your way (I'm in eastern NC). We did a run up Old NC 105 a couple of weekends ago and had a blast. There is another one scheduled for August 3 weekend. Here is a link to that one. Aug.3 OB Gorges Ride Right now there are 8 of us signed up, come join us.
 
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Welcome to the family Mike!

I am right on the other side of the border.

The Grand Cherokee’s are good and are definitely in the community. Look forward to seeing the build.
 
Welcome from Central Texas
 
THorner said:
Hello Mike,
Welcome to OB, a bit of a newbie here too. There is a fairly active group over your way (I'm in eastern NC). We did a run up Old NC 105 a couple of weekends ago and had a blast. There is another one scheduled for August 3 weekend. Here is a link to that one. Aug.3 OB Gorges Ride Right now there are 8 of us signed up, come join us.
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We are going to try to make it! I just ordered new tires and still need to do insurance, registration etc. As long as those go without any issues we are there. Will RSVP when action items are complete. Thank you for the invite! This is exactly what I want to do.
 
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Sojah40 said:
We are going to try to make it! I just ordered new tires and still need to do insurance, registration etc. As long as those go without any issues we are there. Will RSVP when action items are complete. Thank you for the invite! This is exactly what I want to do.
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Sounds great. Hope everything goes well getting ready. I'm making some changes to my rig and hope to have them completed for August 3rd. Looking forward to meeting you in person.
 
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Sojah40 said:
Hello,

I am new to overlanding and actually got introduced by watching Lifestye Overland. I wanted to start introducing outdoors and nature to my 2 young daughters age 4 and 7. After watching Lifestyle Overland I had a aha moment. Hiking with our cars, since my daughters still have little feet. We began looking at different cars to buy 4runner was winning. Then my wife decided she wanted to go camping with our dog. This decision opened up a whole new can of worms. 4runner being too small for all our gear and dog. Now we decided on a truck and is real interested in the Jeep Gladiator. But decided to wait a little while to see how they perform. I know there are a lot of people on youtube doing builds and about to go on adventures. In the meantime we have an old 1999 Jeep Cherokee I’m going to outfit. This weekend I’m doing all the maintenance transfer case, oil, differential fluid change. Maybe some bushings. Next on the list is tires. Still not decided on a lift, if any. I will be scouring and perhaps asking on some opinions during my build. Thanks for having me!

Mike
Click to expand...

Welcome to you and the family don’t feel depressed about the vehicle you have it’s perfectly capable of anything here in the South I’m in Georgia came out of Kalifornia due to a family move and as you may or may not have seen Overland East again in North Carolina this October this is a great place to really begin to see what styles of rigs are out there basic jeeps to the massive Earth Roamer which started as a 4 door Jeep in 2005-6, anyway welcome aboard
 
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Sojah40 said:
Hello,

I am new to overlanding and actually got introduced by watching Lifestye Overland. I wanted to start introducing outdoors and nature to my 2 young daughters age 4 and 7. After watching Lifestyle Overland I had a aha moment. Hiking with our cars, since my daughters still have little feet. We began looking at different cars to buy 4runner was winning. Then my wife decided she wanted to go camping with our dog. This decision opened up a whole new can of worms. 4runner being too small for all our gear and dog. Now we decided on a truck and is real interested in the Jeep Gladiator. But decided to wait a little while to see how they perform. I know there are a lot of people on youtube doing builds and about to go on adventures. In the meantime we have an old 1999 Jeep Cherokee I’m going to outfit. This weekend I’m doing all the maintenance transfer case, oil, differential fluid change. Maybe some bushings. Next on the list is tires. Still not decided on a lift, if any. I will be scouring and perhaps asking on some opinions during my build. Thanks for having me!

Mike
Click to expand...


Tuesday of next week, I've planned an Old NC 105 Hwy path and found a national park service road that connects to a parallel street then I will venture down the Blue Ridge Parkway heading into Cherokee. I'll be sure to add pictures of my adventures and let you all know how it goes.

I drive a 17' Tacoma Off-Road DCSB but grew up on a 95' 4Runner limited and will say the 4runner's turning radius and smaller wheel base is a major positive over the Tacoma. It may be beneficial to get a roof top tent to save on space since you won't have the bed or get a full length roof rack allowing greater storage capacity freeing up the trunk space.

See below for a link that also provides the National Forest Service Roads that have amazing drives as well.

 
I
Sojah40 said:
Sounds awesome! Yeah let me know. My brother just go a Taco and drove it out west for a month. What side of town do you live on?
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I'm in South Charlotte, closer to Pineville. Far enough away from the city to not hear the hustle and bustle but still close enough to reap the benefits :)
 
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