Some vehicles are just transportation. Others end up woven into your life. Ours was the second kind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maranda grew up in the mountains. I was born there, left for a while, then came back for college. That\u2019s where we met. If you\u2019ve lived in the mountains long enough\u2014especially back when this story starts\u2014you know that not every vehicle does well there. Automatics used to struggle unless they had a decent motor. Manuals were reliable, predictable, and gave you control when roads were steep, icy, or rough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I met Maranda, she drove a manual Volkswagen Beetle<\/strong>. And she could drive<\/em> it. Forward, backward, hills, parking lots\u2014it didn\u2019t matter. She was confident, capable, and completely at ease behind the wheel. I, on the other hand, was never a fan of small cars. Part of that was preference. Part of it was personal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I had lost one of my best friends in a car accident in a small car. That sticks with you. When it came time for Maranda to get a new vehicle, protecting my wife mattered to me. Not in a controlling way\u2014just in a take care of the person you love<\/em> way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maranda wanted a manual transmission. That was non-negotiable. The problem was the U.S. car market at the time. Manuals were disappearing fast. Unless you were looking at sports cars or very specific models, your options were thin\u2014and most people couldn\u2019t even drive them anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So we started looking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We checked out Audis. All-wheel drive, capable, comfortable\u2014but expensive for what they were, mechanically finicky, and honestly\u2026 not that fun. Good cars, sure. Just not us<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s when I floated the idea: What about a Jeep Wrangler?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Her initial reaction wasn\u2019t enthusiasm. Big. Tall. Tippy. And she wasn\u2019t wrong to be cautious\u2014especially since she had once two-wheeled one of my SUVs on an interstate on-ramp. (Still funny. Still terrifying.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n But we went and test-drove one anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And everything changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She loved it. She felt in control<\/em>. The seating position, the visibility, the way it handled rough pavement\u2014it all clicked. It didn\u2019t feel big to her; it felt planted. Confident. Capable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That was all I needed to hear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve always believed that if you\u2019re going to buy something, don\u2019t buy the absolute base model. Better components matter long-term. So I did my homework. I studied Jeep trims, drivetrains, axles. I knew what I wanted:<\/p>\n\n\n\n We wanted to go back into the mountains. To hike. To backpack. To explore without worrying about getting stuck or having to turn around because the road got rough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And at the time, GPS navigation mattered. Google Maps wasn\u2019t what it is today. I wanted her to always be able to find her way home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we finally found the one<\/em>, everything lined up. You can see it in the photo\u2014the smiles say it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That Jeep became more than a vehicle. It became part of our life together. It carried us into the mountains we love, hauled gear, handled weather, and gave us confidence instead of anxiety. Years later, we\u2019re still working on it, maintaining it, keeping it running\u2014not because it\u2019s the most modern thing on the road, but because we love it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some things are worth keeping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And this Jeep is one of them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some vehicles are just transportation. Others end up woven into your life. Ours was the second kind. Maranda grew up in the mountains. I was born there, left for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":264,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jeep"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baumwire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baumwire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baumwire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baumwire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baumwire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baumwire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":265,"href":"https:\/\/baumwire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263\/revisions\/265"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baumwire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baumwire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baumwire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baumwire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n