April Fool's!
Every year (for the past several years) we've stuffed the April issue of Jp magazine with a fool's story to catch the unsuspecting. Quite often the fictitious story is really too good to be true. Last year was a perfect example. Associate Editor Pete Trasborg whittled a fantastic yet timely fairytale of how Jeep was being purchased by International. He went on in great believable detail about the new Jeeps that were on the way, including diesel and Hemi V-8-powered Wranglers as well as a Rubicon Grand Cherokee.
Interestingly, every year (even more so last year) we're flooded with letters and emails from readers who are genuinely excited about whatever fool's product or idea our sick little minds think up. Several reputable automotive news sources even caught wind of Trasborg's story and promoted it as fact.
When readers ultimately find out they've been fooled we typically get one of two responses. They can't believe they've been deceived again and laugh it off, or they're downright angry that they were bamboozled and want heads to roll. So we figured for April Fool's 2010 we'd give them what they've been clamoring for. If you read and were excited about Christian Hazel's editorial last month, don't put your "I hate Cappa" T-shirt and anti-fan club newsletter in the trash just yet.
You'll need to get a few more miles out of 'em. You've been duped again. Sorry to say I have no aspirations of being an actor of any sort, unless of course someone insists that they need to pay me an exorbitant amount of money to do so. But based purely on my pathetic acting skills and homely good looks I don't expect this to happen, at least not in my lifetime. In the meantime, you're still stuck with me at the head of Jp. Oh come on now, it's not like I just peed in your Wheaties. Think of it more like a fart in church or finding a turd in the punch bowl.
I'm more motivated than ever this year, since I finished pretty much all of my languishing projects in 2009. I'm ready for some new challenges and more wheeling trips. This season I've already blasted the Glamis sand dunes twice, rallied the washes of Ocotillo Wells, explored the back roads of Death Valley and Nevada, been on three snow wheeling trips-and it's not even February yet (as of this writing). I'm really looking forward to the Tierra Del Sol Desert Safari near Salton Sea, California, and Easter Jeep Safari in Moab, Utah. If you're headed to these events too, look for the Juggy at TDS and my rusty Recycled J-truck in Moab. I might have some Jp magazine stickers on me.
Lately I've been working on assembling a junky flatfender from two piles of crap that were given to me. You can read more about it coming together in the blogs at jpmagazine.com. I should be able to take it wheeling soon, but it really needs a new body tub. Maybe I'll look into one of those recycled Hemp Jeep tubs that Hazel wrote about a few years ago. -John