Playing Dirty - A Landrover Story

Rovers Magazine caught Will playing in a mud hole.  Top right

Most of you may know I have a thing for old Land Rovers and the heritage and history they represent.  When we bought ours several years ago in Wiltshire, England and had it shipped over to the port in Brunswick, Georgia I knew it was going to be a project.  Will and I went with a trailer picked it up in the Georgia shipyard, and got it back to the house where the restoration process began.   First things first, get the remenants of English farm hay out of the back.  After several months of work, I took it to get repainted and I chose a deep Land Rover green with the white top.  There was hardly any original paint left on it, so it could have been any color.  It looked so good when it was finished; the paint man thought I was kidding when I said it was going to be used as a Defender should.  It didn’t take long before it was deep in mud hole at a friend’s farm or off some old logging road covered in mud.  Ahhh…the smell of wet mud cooking on a hot engine.
 
A little over a year ago I found out that other geeks like me were having a Land Rover rally at 30A near Seaside and Santa Rosa Beach in April, The Sand Rover Rally, and I knew we had to go.  That weekend Will and I loaded up and headed west, straight into the afternoon sun in our Defender.  The next day, about 80 trucks all met in the middle of nowhere, were given instructions by the rally organizer and set free to get dirty and break stuff on our vehicles.  (breaking things is a foregone conclusion).  Will was 15 years old and I let him drive the entire time (remember this is a right side driver stick shift)  to get the experience and learn his limitations, all without a mishap I am proud to say.  We even made the Rovers Magazine with a picture of Will flying through a mud hole.  The rest of the afternoon was spent talking to fellow Land Rover nerds about fuel injection, part sourcing, engine swaps, etc. all over a few cold ones and the smell of dried mud.  It was a grand day.  

So get out there and Get Dirty .... trust me, you'll thank me later.