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After getting stuck with my two wheel drive pickup three times in less than nine months I decided it was time to upgrade. Besides, the Nissan was eight years old, although it had less than seventy thousand miles on it as I also have a Mini Cooper. I mostly use the truck for working Habitat and construction sites are often rough, especially here in the mountains. Two of the times I'd gotten stuck were at different Habitat build sites.
I'm more of a buyer than shopper. I knew I wanted a mid-size truck, even though nowadays they're the size of the full size trucks of my youth. I'd admired the Jeep Gladiator when it came out back around 2021, so I decided to check it out. Half an hour later I parked the Nissan at the dealership and was immediately greeted by a young salesman. After a short test drive, an hour's worth of negotiating, and another hour waiting for the truck to get prepped, I was headed home in my new Jeep.
The next Wednesday I took it to the current Habitat site. One of the other volunteers drives a four door Wrangler, and after she admired my Gladiator we chatted about Jeeps whenever we were working near one another. She suggested I check out the local Mountain High Jeep Club which she said had monthly meetings and planned off-road drives, as well as attending the occasional Jeep rally.
An introvert, I'm not big on joining clubs and stuff but I've also never actually gone off-roading. Besides, I don't meet many people as I tend to stay to myself until I'm comfortable. I do belong to a British car club and have a number of acquaintances there, although none live very close to me. And the few women who participate are all married, most riding passenger with their husbands.
So I found the club's posting on social media and the VP posted a welcome and some details on becoming an Annual Member. Some of the rides and events they held were member only, so I PM'd her and asked for more details. She replied a day or two later. With dues of only $40 per year, which covered everyone in the household (no benefit for me), it seemed reasonable. I decided to sign up and see how things went the first year and then decide on renewing or not.
A few weeks later the club held it's monthly meeting at a burger joint near me. It was on a Tuesday night to avoid the tourist crowds in the town where we would meet. As suggested, I arrived an hour before the meeting to find parking and get some dinner. Once I found the suggested parking lot I pulled into a space next to a bright red two door Wrangler. My Granite Crystal Gladiator contrasted nicely.
As I got out of the Jeep I realized the Wrangler was occupied. A few moments later a woman climbed out of it and said "Hi! Are you new?"
"Yes, in fact I have to find Bonnie and give her my application. This is my first time attending - this is only about six weeks old," I said, pointing to my Jeep.
"I'll introduce you to Bonnie when we go into the restaurant. I'm Peg, by the way, but most people call me Pixie."
"Very nice to meet you, Pixie. I'm Tucker. And I'm new to Jeeps and the whole scene. I did have a '92 Cherokee about twenty years ago but I lived in Florida then and there weren't any off-road trails around. I only put it in 4WD once on the test drive to make sure it worked. This may be sacrilege but I haven't decided whether I'll take this one onto the trails. Certainly not until it's broken in a bit more. Too shiny to scratch right now," I grinned.
"I love the way these look but I really don't have any need for a truck. My Wrangler is more agile off-road although we have several of these in the club and they do just fine on the trails," she said.
When we got into the restaurant Pixie asked, "Are you planning to eat here?"
'Yes, I've never eaten here so I figured I'd try it out," I replied.
"It's pretty good if you like burgers. Shall we get a table together?"
I'd noticed she wasn't wearing anything on her left ring finger but I had no idea if she was single, involved, or whatever. She looked to be in her late 50s or early 60s, petite with a nice figure and a pleasant face that lit up when she smiled. "I'd love that," I told her. "To be honest, I'm a bit of an introvert so it's difficult for me to meet people."
Pixie laughed and said "Welcome to the clubs - I'm in both the Jeep and the introvert ones myself so I can relate! Having something in common like the Jeeps makes for an easy ice breaker."
The hostess seated us at a two-top and we both took a couple of minutes to review the menu. When the waiter arrived we both ordered burgers, hers with fries and mine with onion rings. We also both ordered a beer. Then we began the 'get to know you' small talk. We discovered we lived less than ten miles from one another, she in a rental unit with a roommate named Cindy and I alone in my cabin in the woods.
When she spotted Bonnie Pixie called her over and introduced her to me. I stood, shook her hand, and handed her my application and the membership fee. She glanced it over and said, "Welcome to the club! Follow me to the table up front and I'll give you your badge."
It wasn't long before the meeting began. Each of the new members, including me, were asked to stand and introduce ourselves, including the year, model, and color of our Jeep. We were also encouraged to briefly describe our Jeep and off-road experience - easy for me as I had none.
Then the President, who turned out to be Bonnie's husband, covered some old business, club updates, and upcoming rallies, some as far as three hours away.
Much like the motorcycle club I belonged to in Florida where we had Road Captains who planned and led rides, this club has Trail Captains who do the same. There were two trail rides planned for this month and the two Captains each described them. For the benefit of newbies like me they gave a trail rating, from easy to very challenging. Both of this month's rides were rated Medium in difficulty.
By the end of the meeting Pixie and I seemed to be comfortable with one another. I was certainly not only comfortable but also interested. She'd told me she was single with no prospects on the horizon. That was understandable as she and I appeared to be the only two at the meeting who were over fifty. And the vast majority were obviously couples, mostly married and many with children.
As the meeting broke up people quickly began leaving, most likely because they had to work the following day. I'd learned that Pixie worked in a dental office in town and she knew I was retired but had Habitat the next day. "Interested in a nightcap before we head home," she asked.
"Well, it's been almost two hours since our earlier beers so they should be metabolized by now. Personally I'm not much of a beer guy but I could go for a scotch - just one since we're driving," I said.
"Agreed. I'm very careful about driving after drinking but I think one will be okay," she said.
I waved for our waiter and ordered a Johnny Walker, neat. Pixie asked for a vodka tonic in a tall glass, which would dilute the vodka more. I instructed the waiter to put both drinks on my tab.
"Oh, no, you don't have to do that!" Pixie objected.
