A Great Day at Work!

Last Wednesday I was lucky enough to get the chance to help rip the fenders off the company President’s personal Wrangler, roll a UTV, and dent the windshield on a company Jeep.

Now that’s a great day at work!

VP Ken Holbrook about to flip. Again

We had some VIPs visiting our manufacturing plant, and the bigwigs around here decided to take them out four wheeling. It’s just the kind of thing we do.

So we took a UTV, two company Jeeps, and the personal whip of our company’s boss up to Left Hand Canyon. It’s the closest trail to work, and the only thing open this time of year around here.

Once there we let the three visitors drive.  They did a fantastic job on this steep and fairly tough trail.  There’s a point at the top of “Big Mother Hill” where you kind of need to keep going straight even though the trail turns left - so one of those neat tricks where the passenger gets to hang out over a big drop. Everyone did great, but Rick Sabourin, our President, was talking a bit about looking out the window of his Jeep and seeing nothing below him. That’s his daily ride getting in trouble in the photo.

Rick

At the very top of the hill is an extremely tight spot with an off camber rock that will push you against a tree, with just a few inches of extra width. Get it slightly wrong and you will test how tough the fabric on your soft top is. We got it slightly wrong on the first Jeep through, and luckily the Top came through fine.  The windshield - a little dented. With the other two Jeeps we were more careful to get them a bit further away from the tree, but that meant climbing a big rock. And that meant really testing out the rock sliders. They got scratched pretty good, but that’s what they’re meant for. And we lost a fender.

Just when things were calming down a bit,  Ken, our Vice President of Sales and Marketing was goofing off and rolled the UTV. I thought for a minute we might have an opening in the marketing department, but he was fine. Three of us ran over and tipped the UTV back up, and he drove it off. Those things are tough. And the Bestop Cab Enclosure and cargo system on it were fine too (hey - this is how we justify going on these trips. Got to throw in a little marketing!).

Our visitors had a great time, I had a great time as a co-pilot and photographer.  Look for more reports on trail trips as the snow starts melting.

Post comments and questions below, like “can I get a job there?”  or “where is George?” and I’ll try to answer them. Click on the photos below to see them bigger, and click again to see them really big.

Thanks for reading!

Kawasaki Teryx

Look what showed up in our parking lot today!

There’s an arms race going on in the UTV world as things get faster, more powerful and sportier.  On a scale of bad to good, this is definitely on the good side.

This is Kawasaki’s Teryx. 750cc, liquid-cooled, 90-degree, four-stroke V-twin.

It’s outfitted with our Bikini, Windjammer and Duster.

Turns out that this is just a loaner from our local Kawasaki dealer. Which means there’s zero chance of the Web Team getting to borrow it for the weekend.