WH Roundup

[14Justice]

Hello all, Been a minute since I’ve posted here. I’ll be back down to the South Bay next Friday with my steed. Any chatter of a road-trip to the roundup from the South Bay?

Brad

[71BRONCO71]

Glad to see you again, are you going to PC on Sunday too?

[904Bronco]

Well for the Old timers that still check in here... It was a good event. Talked to many of you. It was a nice day, not too hot with a light breeze.

Carl Tenter, Karl (and Grandson) Cage Dave, Skip, Ryan, Brad, Lars (text), JimGo, DirtDonk, Dave, etc.

Fair amount of 6G, but pretty certain G1, and G2-G5 out numbered them. Many beautiful rigs.

Hoping to see City Hick, and Patrick Deming, but maybe next year... Sorry I didn't take any pictures, and I didn't win an award or any Raffle items. I enjoyed the event just the Same.

[70 Steed]

Yes it was a good time seeing old friends.

[CityHick]

Well for the Old timers that still check in here... It was a good event. Talked to many of you. It was a nice day, not too hot with a light breeze.

Carl Tenter, Karl (and Grandson) Cage Dave, Skip, Ryan, Brad, Lars (text), JimGo, DirtDonk, Dave, etc.

Fair amount of 6G, but pretty certain G1, and G2-G5 out numbered them. Many beautiful rigs.

Hoping to see City Hick, and Patrick Deming, but maybe next year... Sorry I didn't take any pictures, and I didn't win an award or any Raffle items. I enjoyed the event just the Same.

I'd considered going for a half day but after working something like 80 hours last week, I needed some catch up time for errands and chores (and sleep). Between my workload and many weekends being at least partially out of town I'm just not finding the time. I keep meaning to at least fire up the bronco for a trip around town but it never happens. I'll probably never convince myself to sell my bronco, but I probably should let it go to someone who can enjoy it...

[904Bronco]

I'd considered going for a half day but after working something like 80 hours last week, I needed some catch up time for errands and chores (and sleep). Between my workload and many weekends being at least partially out of town I'm just not finding the time. I keep meaning to at least fire up the bronco for a trip around town but it never happens. I'll probably never convince myself to sell my bronco, but I probably should let it go to someone who can enjoy it...

Dude, I realize the work environment has changed in the last few years, but it sounds like work is defining your life and burning you out. I hope this is only temporary? Your presence was missed, and I'm sure it would have been a way to decompress with old friends and Trail buddies.

Doug.

[CityHick]

Dude, I realize the work environment has changed in the last few years, but it sounds like work is defining your life and burning you out. I hope this is only temporary? Your presence was missed, and I'm sure it would have been a way to decompress with old friends and Trail buddies.

Doug.

I am making progress towards a more normal life little by little. There is light at the end of this crazy tunnel, but its not coming quickly. I changed jobs somewhat by choice and somewhat not, about 1.5 years ago. I went from being an individual contributor with some leadership responsibility, to being a manager of 5 departments almost overnight. As you can imagine that in and of itself took a heavy toll.
In the meantime, I have gained a very supportive boss, gotten better peer management support in other parts of the world, and went from 5 to 3 departments managed. I make a lot more money now and I save almost all of it with the goal of retiring sometime in my 50s (at 48 now... the runway is shorter than it once was). I am enduring some short term pain to get myself to a better place.

My interest in early broncos has waned, there's no two ways about that, but I figure once I get some more of my life back I may get more interested in it again. We'll see. I recognize that I've grown a lot less tolerant of old car problems and maintenance in general. It has become a ridiculous thought to me that I can't leave on a trip without a box of spare parts in the bronco. Having come home in a tow truck after several trips... I really don't look forward to driving it more than an hour or so away anymore. I used to want to buy a trailer but I also find that to be a ridiculous idea now. I should not "need" to tow a vehicle... they're meant to be driven. I don't see myself returning to rock crawling, but I do see myself returning to some kind of off-roading. Whether or not that's in my bronco, time will tell. In reality my 4x4 F150 goes most of the places I want to go anymore...

[70 Steed]

I am making progress towards a more normal life little by little. There is light at the end of this crazy tunnel, but its not coming quickly. I changed jobs somewhat by choice and somewhat not, about 1.5 years ago. I went from being an individual contributor with some leadership responsibility, to being a manager of 5 departments almost overnight. As you can imagine that in and of itself took a heavy toll.
In the meantime, I have gained a very supportive boss, gotten better peer management support in other parts of the world, and went from 5 to 3 departments managed. I make a lot more money now and I save almost all of it with the goal of retiring sometime in my 50s (at 48 now... the runway is shorter than it once was). I am enduring some short term pain to get myself to a better place.

My interest in early broncos has waned, there's no two ways about that, but I figure once I get some more of my life back I may get more interested in it again. We'll see. I recognize that I've grown a lot less tolerant of old car problems and maintenance in general. It has become a ridiculous thought to me that I can't leave on a trip without a box of spare parts in the bronco. Having come home in a tow truck after several trips... I really don't look forward to driving it more than an hour or so away anymore. I used to want to buy a trailer but I also find that to be a ridiculous idea now. I should not "need" to tow a vehicle... they're meant to be driven. I don't see myself returning to rock crawling, but I do see myself returning to some kind of off-roading. Whether or not that's in my bronco, time will tell. In reality my 4x4 F150 goes most of the places I want to go anymore...

The solution is to buy a Gen 6 Bronco.

[904Bronco]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and current situation Tony. Good to see that you have a plan... The Stress that one haves from work can tick years off one's life. Neighbor down the street told me he was retiring from Lockheed at 55. Too many old timers stayed to 65+ to get that last carrot only not to live long after getting out. He seems to be thriving now. I can relate to you situation having gone from a Captain in the Fire service in charge of three, to a BC in charge of the entire shift on duty.

I'm not sure a G6 is a cure-all Skip, I have one and it can be a $60K investment, plus a number of upgrades you need to do to work it hard on the trail. There are pluses and minuses to a new rig, vs one that you know back and forth from the years you have invested in it.

One of my High school buddies just texted all of us that he was done. At 63, he sold off all his projects and old cars. The constant tinkering, repairs, tires, batteries, etc. finally got to him and he wanted to simplify. Says now he will just get a VW Dune buggy and call it good. Costs, time, energy, and desire all play into that.

You know that I have be open tracking various mustangs over 30 years, and recently, I have just not found it as fun as it used to be. Maybe being elected Head Stewart of our open track events has had something to do with that. But a lot of that has to do with how the costs to do this has continued to go up. Completely relatable to working on early Broncos...

We age differently, and we have many factors in our lives which point us in different directions as we travel through life. I didn't mean to put you on the spot, merely concerned that a long time Bronco Guy simply dropped out.

[CityHick]

You didn't put me on the spot, Doug... this just turned into a good place to talk semi-anonymously about my situation.
If my work situation was still as bad now as it was during my first 6 months, I'd have bailed out by now. I can see that by continuing on this trajectory of improvement it will be okay. I could write a novel about what I've achieved this year, but this isn't the place (and neither is FB).

I have thought quite a bit about replacing my F150 and my EB with a 6th Gen Bronco. I do think that could strike a decent balance. I don't regret stepping away from the "braptor" that had my name on it, but I do think a Badlands Sasquatch or Wildtrak would suit my desires pretty well. I also think I could do a few minor things to my F150 and it would do most of what I want, too.

In the shorter term, my vacations have a different focus. Alaska last year was amazing, I am going to Mexico this year, and I am making plans for a return to Europe either later this year or sometime next year. There's a lot of this world that I want to see, and most of the places involve crossing an ocean or generally traveling farther than I want to drive. I have employees in 11 different countries; perhaps I can swing another couple of work trips to far off places.. we'll see.

I have no immediate plans to sell my EB; it's just kinda "hibernating" for a while until I figure out what I want to do. In the mean time my electric hot rod has me quite amused even after 7 months.

[70 Steed]

As you guys know I have an Early Bronco and a Gen6 Badlands Sasquatch. I find myself taking the Gen6 more now because of the comfort factor. I have never done any hard rock crawling with my Early Bronco. As i get older getting in and out of the Early Bronco gets more difficult and driving it is not as comfortable. I drove my Early Bronco to the Northwest Bronco Roundup and Wild Horses Roundup for years. I also took it to Winter Fun Fest for years. Now I take the Gen6. My wife is a big fan of the air conditioning when we are passing through Red Bluff when it’s 100+ degrees on the way to Florence.

That said I have no plans to sell my Early Bronco anytime soon. In fact I just took it to Cars and Coffee last Saturday.

[904Bronco]

Skip and Tony, PM me with your address and I will send you a NorCal Broncos sticker, one for the G6 and the Tesla