2023 Year in Review... share yours!

[Greg]

2023 was a pretty good year for us, lots of wheelin trips with good friends, travel to amazing places and more than enough projects to keep me busy. I'm posting this in Chit-Chat because it's pretty general, so feel free to share your 2023 Review!

January started out with getting the TJ sorted with the new hood in place & started working on swapping in the narrowed front D60 and ORI's. -

February was more of the same with the TJ, so much work to do and trying to get it sorted before it got warm and it was time to wheel!

March was the big push for the PSH Cleanup for EJS, with a 2 week work trip to San Antonio for advanced welding school at a technical college. Got to test out Miller's new virtual welding machine, that helps new welders learn technique. Visited the Alamo while I was there, had some awesome food. We also launched the new RME Gear store in March!

April brought Easter Jeep Safari, the Concept Jeeps and the only trail run I went on was the Warn Customer Appreciation Run. The Vendors Show was interesting as usual, got to hangout with and visit friends, see what was new, check out PSH, etc. The end of April and EJS had me thinking about my 1st Jeep and I ended up buying a '80 CJ5 to rekindle some memories.

May was a great month, I was in a time crunch and I needed the TJ out of the shop, so I could make room for the '71 Commando I helped David Freiburger purchase here in Grand Junction. I did the footwork, bought the Jeepster and David and Rick Pewe were flying into GJ to wrench on it, then roadtrip it back home. The TJ was pretty much trail ready at this point.

June brought my first trail test for the TJ after all the work, 21 Road! The following weekend, I ran Pritchett with @Hickey & @SoopaHick and it was HOT in Moab!

July was crazy, we did a family cruise to the Mediterranean... saw Venice Italy, Dubrovnik (Kings Landing, if you watched Game of Thrones) & Split Croatia, Montenegro & Santorini Greece over 2 weeks. Places I never thought I'd have a chance to visit, it was amazing.

 

[Greg]

August was crazy for me with 4 weekend wheelin trips, back to back to back! Coyote Canyon x2 with @RockChucker and then again with @Bart , @UPNO4 , then Hanging Tree with RME friends.

September brought more wheelin, with another 21 Road trip & @drtsqrl in his buggy & @ghetto in his Scout. I also snuck in some time working on the '69 Chevy K20, with a tuneup, H2 wheels and 285's, interior & exhaust work and a wipe on clear coat. It's come a LONG ways!

October rolled around and it finally started to cool down, the colors were changing, so the wife and I took a trip to the San Juan mountains for Fall Colors aboard the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge RR. Later in the month a trip out to Area BFE was planned... again with Jeff Stevens. This trip was so fun, it brought back some great memories.

November was the Jared Boren Memorial Run, with @kmboren leading his friends on the some of the harder trails in Sand Hollow. I got humbled quickly, the wheelin was incredible and technical. It was great to see to many friends supporting the Boren family! ❤️

November brought a quick trip To Baja for Thanksgiving, it was pretty mellow really but it was warmer than Colorado, the ocean was nice, food was amazing and we got to tour the Chenowth Legacy Lodge.... and see @Cody for a bit!

December... I was exhausted and took the month off from any trips! I did spend time in the shop working on the '70 C10 though!

2023 was incredible, going to be hard to beat this one! Looking forward to what 2024 has in store. Lets hear about your 2023!

 

[cruiseroutfit]

My 2023 in pics (4x4/Racing edition)


First trip of the year, Canyonlands and Robbers Roost


Visiting Spring Canyon


International Auto Expo


Winter snow run & camping


A trip to Toyota HQ in Texas


Winter camping in Newfies


Pitting @ King of the Hammers


Gaia with ExpeditionUtah


Field Craft Survival winter mobility course


Mint 400 with Rusty Nail Racing

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Doh! Only 10 attachments allowed per post.


Lockhart Basin with Wasatch Cruisers


Moab Easter Jeep Safari on bikes


Event site scouting in Texas


Cruise Moab (Swell Overnighter)


Exploring Spring Canyon


Swell with our friends from Japan


Teaching classes at Overland Expo West


Trip Planning tutorial with ExpeditionUtah


Overland 101 in Texas with Toyota/Lexus


Mueller Canyon with the moto crew

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Next


Swell with the GX engineering/marketing family


Terra area with B.O.A.R.


Camping in Spring Canyon


Ford co-training with the I4WDTA


Overland Expo PNW with Lexus


Recovery 101 for OnX corporate retreat


2023 ExpeditionUtah annual Relic Run


2024 Land Cruiser reveal @ LCHM


Mineral Fork on 2 Wheels

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Last


FCS Summer Mobility Course


Emery/Carbon County real estate expedition


Full nerdery @ Overland Expo Mtn West


Annual NV homestead RV'ing


CruiserFest 2023 @ the LCHM


American Fork Canyon road survey with County officials


NPLD with ExpeditionUtah


Overland Skills Camp 2023 with ExpeditionUtah


Site scouting in Georgia


Overland Expo East. This young man loves learing!

 

[jeeper]

I had a bit more.. but I'll just stick with 10 photos and 1 post.

We got a little racing in. My boy did his first 'real' race that sent him on his own for 20 miles.





We had a pretty epic 'Brian's Birthday Bash'. Camp this year was in the Swell.





Adopted some chickens.





A few good nights under the stars with friends.





Helped work the Delt Rock Crawl Event.





Did some desert clean up. Filled 2 semi trailers from this dump pile of tires.





Family went to Wyoming for a Youth Trek. Rained Rained Rained.





Some Green River kayaking.
I'm glad the BLM shut down trails in the area so that I didn't have to hear someone that may or may not have been around.





Did a 'wild hogs' style ride for a few days with Dad and Brothers. This was a retake photo on HWY 12 from a similar ride 5-6 years ago.





And the crown jewel for us, we bought some land.





Overall, not a bad year for a guy who lost 50% of his income.
But most of all, grateful that the family's needs were met, no one went hungry, and all were healthy all year. We were even able to provide some assistance to families that were a little worse off than ourselves.







.

 

[Houndoc]

First big trip of the year was Argentina and Antarctica. 70 ft waves in the Drake and night camped on shore just a couple of many highlights.



May brought the birth of grandson number 3.


Followed shortly by trip to Tanzania with my son


Summer highlighted by family week at Lake Powell and a complete yard redo.

.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Last few months of the year


Destination Outdoors in GA/NC


SEMA show


Izzy and I with the newest members of the I4WDTA


Baja 1000 with Jaos and my Canguro Racing family


Spending some time in Southern Utah with the new LC250


Exploring the XOverland Ranch in Montana


Freeze Your Tail Off with ExpeditionUtah


Swell Exploring with the Wasatch Cruisers

 

[mbryson]

First wheeling trip of the year. First "snow run" in the JT.


February with West Jordan friends.



Trying out the whole "expo" things with the roof top tent.

@ebryson and I prerunning Steel Bender for EJS 2023



2 days later my Jeep got MUDDED on a RR4W Trail of the Month. $40 of pressure washing got about 90% of that concrete off the Jeep.

Poison Spider EJS 2023 lunch area.




Probably a more familiar sight is this car at a fuel pump. I thought Sweaty Betty liked gas... This gal doubles Betty's appetite (way more fun and WAY less capable than Sweaty Betty)




Buick getting a bubble bath.




@lbryson Senior pics

 

[mbryson]

With the JT, I was able to attend Ghost Town Tour from expedition Utah.



I'm an overlander!



Road was a bit washed out.


Cool story about this car. I'd have to let @DAA tell it as I'm sure I wouldn't get it right.



This is my chariot from Nashville to Bowling Green, KY for the 2023 Buick GS Nationals. Total bucket list trip for me.



Big gurl in the far lane runs 10s. Yes, she hooks and books.


When in Bowling Green, one would have to visit the Corvette Museum? Yes



AMAZING '72 GS with every option except 2. I couldn't identify the ones missing. Super cool owner and his brother DROVE the car from Chicago to Bowling Green.





Buicks as far as the eye can see. The GSX (yellow and white cars pictured) are 1970 units. Each of them are one of 678 cars. There were at least 8-9 GSX at the show. I'd never seen one in person before. Pictured is the "concours" area. Not really my cup of tea but cars are "as sold" to be in this area and judged as such. The brown is a MUCH cooler color in person than I expected. That's 4 GSX in the concurs area. Amazing to see these in that condition. There were a couple of GSX racecars. Two that I was able to look at had the QQ markings of a real GSX. Those cars are likely worth upwards of $100-150k and are still being raced by the guys that bought them cheap in the 80s





My first car show of the season along with a high school friend and his Dart.




Another car show with a Buick friend from Wasatch Buicks and his '70 GS Stage 1

 

[mbryson]

July 4 Murray car show. Same Stage 1



My married kids got a new house in early July! Congrats to them!



@lbryson trying to figure out which shoes to wear to a military ball. She seems to like this guy. We'll see where that goes.


@mbryson and @THE.MBRYSON hanging out in Alaska on a family vacation.






CRAB!!!! TASTY, very TASTY





Juneau, from our cruise ship balcony (first time I've ever paid for a balcony)



Home for RR4W Labor Day Campout. I'm home from Alaska for 2 days. Why not hit Moab?



3 days after getting back from Moab, 2e had an early flight from SLC to SFO and an 11 hour layover. Then take a 15 hour flight from SFO to SYD, then 2 hours to Melbourne. I didn't learn to sleep on the plane unfortunately.




Melbourne was bigger than I expected.





12 Apostles formation on The Great Ocean Road.

 

[mbryson]

My wife played tennis in high school. Her parents and brothers all played. When in Melbourne, you have to go to the Rod Laver Arena where the Australian Open is played every year. Cool venue, even for me.




I played golf at St Andrews Beach Golf Course. The deer look different there than here.


Port Philip from (that's the bay that Melbourne is in) somewhere along the road on the way back from golfing.


That's a happy guy to be heading home. I didn't hate Australia at all but was ready to be home. Not ready for the flight but.... it's the bestest way to get home.

I got to go to Hawaii on the way home. Seems like we were only there for a few minutes. I'm sure I had watched 2-3 John Wick movies (limited selection on the plane but they were entertaining even though brutal) by this time.





Drove a 392 Jeep a few weeks after I got home. If something happens to my JT, it'll be tough to decide between the 392 and a 7.3L gas Stuper Duty. These make cool vroomie sounds







FINALLY found the real issue in my "Jeep". Adapter is leaking. Wonder why.

20 years ago, i paid $500 for a Novak adapter and 27 spline input shaft. Took a while to get that figured out as the current Novak adapter is about 1" shorter. Good in the way that you shorten the drivetrain. Bad in the way that I don't want to redo my drivelines again (I have 4)

I ended up buying an Advance Adapter and that seems to be working fine.



Deadman's point with RR4W Trail of the Month. There's some @Maverick sighting. He's spent a bunch of trail time with me this year. This was the eclipse day. We ran Secret Spire out to here



Cool day on Dome Plateau that I'll be leading this year for the Sophomore package. I like to kick back for EJS but they need trail leaders suddenly. We'll see how it goes





More cool Dome Plateau

 

[Houndoc]

October brought a leaf trip to New England and Lake Powell for the eclipse



November I was able to trek and raft in Nepal, with an evening in Qatar.



(Everest is one of those peaks in the background.)

 

[Houndoc]

My Land Cruiser finally completed its trip from Africa in December and the entire year was full of fun family and animal time.

 

[ebryson]

I wish I got more photos from this year so maybe that's a 2024 goal?

Got a new truck, closing in on 20k miles I've put on it...


Putting highline fenders in.


Prerunning Steel Bender with @mbryson to test them out. Sadly wasn't able to get many pictures of my Jeep during EJS 2023. I ran many trails no one else I knew was running, which included some of the harder obstacles I've run in this Jeep. Those trails being Moab Rim and Gold Bar Rim, and I didn't have to winch up the waterfall 😁.


I started my new found hobby 3d printing! Loving designing and print my own parts.


Cruise to Alaska. On a little hike by a Glacier, and yes that water is cold.


I decided to enter the "who's got the muddiest Jeep?" competition this year! Prerunning Dome Plateau for 2024 EJS.


From the prerun of Dome Plateau. Definitely one of my favorite pictures I've ever taken.

 

[mbryson]

Spent a few $ at #Maverick this year.

Veterans day in the evening after the ceremonies. Few Vietnam vets were dreaming about a Buick Skylark when they were away from home. I think this one would put a smile on any of their faces? We owe our vets





Silly Jeep drove on it's own finally


Another Dome Plateau prerun with my gunners.


HOLY HEAVY MUD hell coming off Dome Plateau. Another $40 car wash in Moab and about a $25 one in Bountiful and 90-95% of the mud is off.


New tires for the JT. 38" Ridge Grapplers or something. They are SO quiet. Not quite as cool off road as the Mickey Thompsons but they do ok if today was any indication.

 

[Thursty]

2023 down and dirty.

Took a fun trip to Sedona so mama/Dr. Thurston could attend some training.


Played some golf with my favorite girls.


Watched some monster trucks fly around with my brother and his kids.

The desert bloom and spring high water were crazy!



Family fun trips to Grand Junction, Glenwood Springs and Wayne County.




River float.

Oh yeah… bought a truck.

 

[85CUCVKRAWLER]

My year started out at Warner Valley in Feburary.



My job takes me all over the mountain west so next up i was in Coure D'Alene in March.



Then Little Sahara for April dirt bike riding.



Found this on the side of the road at 5 mile one day around this time.



May on the now infamous Delle single track.



Then we did DCRC late May.



Then we did Vernal Rock Rally in June.



We decided to do the Dinosaur National Monument while we were there.

 

[85CUCVKRAWLER]

Then i got a wild hair up my ass decided i was tired of the Heavy Chevy and figured it would be easy-peasy to glue these two vehicle together.







To where i am at now, and kindof stalled since October.




Because i had my second son in November. Which slowed all projects.