This has been an interesting couple of months. As noted in prior posts, first I had hip joint problems and was walking on a cane throughout much of December. In January, I caught a horrible cold and was sick for weeks. The cold came with chest congestion, coughing, coughing and more coughing and then finally, my sinuses acted up and I was stuffy to the point of feeling overwhelming drowsiness. Add that to my constant bouts with fatigue and you have a person who can barely stay awake.

This cold would not let me go and unfortunately for those who  now have this thing; it will not let you go. Like Alice The Goon chased Popeye everywhere, this cold will not let you go. It will chase you all over the house, into your backyard, around your car, will ride with you to work, and will sit with you for weeks.

Fortunately, I am no longer coughing up lungs. No, today I am blowing my brains out. Where was this stuff hiding all of this time and where is the unending reservoir because I would like to drain it now.

Anyway, this weekend was the first weekend in a very long time where I actually felt well enough to take on some tasks around the house. Perhaps it was unfortunate I considered repairing my Jeep first but, considering it has been sitting around with a full tank of gas since late summer, I figured it should be the first thing on my to-do list particularly since my hands were not hurting me – a biggie – and I felt I had the dexterity needed to twist and turn myself in, around, and under my steering wheel.

I know in prior blog posts I have talked about my love for my Jeep Grand Cherokee but, and unfortunately, I never kept those sites long enough – or could not export the posts – to continue the story forward. I will do that now, bear with me.

The love affair I have with my Jeep started when I was a kid – or perhaps more a teenager – when I first saw the Jeep Grand Wagoneer. Ahhh, the love of my life it was. I loved that big ‘ol thing with the wood side panels.

Kaiser’s Jeep Wagoneer replaced the Willys station wagon on November 14, 1962. It was billed as the “first station wagon to provide complete passenger car styling, comfort and convenience in combination with the advantages of four wheel drive.” Imagine that, it was called a station wagon.

When AMC took over the Wagoneer in 1971, a “Limited Edition” model 1414X Wagoneer Special was offered. This big boy had a 350 cubic inch 230 horsepower V8, automatic transmission column mount, console with armrest and electric clock, front bucket seats, AM radio with antenna power brakes, power steering power tailgate window, tinted glass, courtesy lights, golden lime metallic paint Custom Wagoneer package, Wood grain Accessory package, air deflector, 8.55 x 15 4 ply white wall tires, plus all other standard Wagoneer equipment. Available options were the rear Trac-Lok differential and air conditioning. Hoo Hah!!

Unfortunately, just when I was able to afford a Jeep Grand Wagoneer, the model was discontinued. All of those beautiful woodies were discontinued in 1992 with the arrival of the Jeep Grand Wagoneer in 1993.

The 1993 Jeep Grand Wagoneer looked somewhat like my Jeep Grand Cherokee with one exception, it was a woodie. The ’93 Grand Wagoneer had wood side panels but it did not have that large, big ‘ol, I can do anything look of the old Wagoneers. A sad day indeed for me.

A number of people were upset with me for even wanting and eventually buying a Cherokee because of the name. However, after searching around for a suitable replacement – and I did wait two years – I returned to the Jeep name and settled on a Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited and to add insult to injury, I chose a red one which made some really upset with me.

The reasoning for me was simple. I called a dealer and they lined up five of them for me to see. One was Black and Gold – not good for insurance purposes – one was White and Gold and very expensive. The other two were okay but not my cup of tea. I did not want a Laredo and I don’t like green. The other one was blue, looked as if it had been treated and driven hard and quite frankly, it had a sad little face on it. The red one was the only one that really talked to me plus, unlike the others, it was a one-owner car that had just come in from a two-year lease. It was also in absolutely perfect condition. Okay, so there you have it.

Why a Jeep? Well, I always heard they were made to eat up the road and eating up road is what I like doing. I like going into back country, off-roading, hiking, etc. Since I now live in California with a whole lot of back country and off roading options, I wanted something suspension-ready for eating up road while looking its very best at the same time. I tried the Ford Explorer and the suspension on that thing is too tight, the truck is too stoic, and the profile sucks the big one.

Okay, so it’s a CHEROKEE and its red but it is (or was, the new ones suck) the best thing out there. The Cherokee name is not new for Jeep. Wiley, Kaiser or AMC, I don’t remember which, had a Cherokee Chief and there was a Cherokee Wagoneer. It was not until 1993/94 that the Grand Cherokees (ZJ series) came along to take over from the good old Wagoneers. If it had been possible in 94/96, I certainly would have purchased a Grand Wagoneer. Actually, if I can get my hands on a good refurbished Grand Wagoneer, I may still purchase one.

Another little bit of history regarding the Jeep that I bet you didn’t know, French car manufacturer Renault actually provided the cash for building the Cherokee. Second, the Cherokee was the only SUV that was not an adaptation of a truck giving it many advantages over truck based SUVs. The most significant was that a 4 door version was designed from the start. Most trucks or SUVs are built using body-on-frame construction. The Jeep Cherokee was built using a uni-body construction like most passenger cars.

The now Chrysler Grand Cherokees made between 1992 and 1998, fully optioned with the 5.2L V-8 engine, has a curb weight of 3,936 lbs. A base model Ford Explorer powered by a V-6 weighs about 4,300 lbs. Other American and Japanese built SUVs have curb weights about the same as the Explorer. The Grand Cherokee is actually lighter than other SUVs made around the same time and in my humble opinion, more powerful, agile and better. That’s why I had to have a Grand Cherokee with all the bells and whistles.

While many complain about what is called the Jeep’s “retro-suspension,” to the point of calling it loose, I tout it highly. The suspension is what gives my Jeep that wonderful ride, even now as a 16-year old car/truck. A friend of mine has a Ford Explorer that is about 10-years old and it feels every bit like a truck. Don’t get in it if you have hemorrhoids.

Okay, enough history, on to my Jeep. I was terribly disappointed in Chrysler’s giving in or selling out. I rented a Jeep Cherokee last year when I went to San Francisco and it was horrible. The drive was horrible, the suspension was horrible, the road noise was horrible, the Jeep I used to know and love has turned into a Ford Explorer. I was so disappointed. There are no SUVs out there today that match my gas guzzling Jeep Grand Cherokee, absolutely nothing. I do not want any of the Jeeps available today. Sorry, but they are huge fail whales for me and with that, I have decided to keep my Jeep. No Cash For Clunkers for me thank you.

Late last year I did consider selling my Jeep to a friend’s nephew. I told the 19-year-old young man the ignition needed changing and he was perfectly okay with fixing it. At some point his mother came by to see it and decided she did not want her son driving a Jeep. She said her son would “soup it up and get himself killed in it.” I honestly forgot the boy is 19 and what do young boys do? Yep, they jack cars up. That frightened me as well and I too said no to the deal though he begged me to sell it to him anyway.

Everything happens for a reason and as such, little hearts appeared over my head as I looked at my Jeep and said, it’s you and me babe, together forever. And so it was, last weekend I spent the better part of two days working on my Jeep. I put in a new ignition switch, new key cylinder – what a mess – replaced the windshield wipers and purchased a new battery for it. Soon I will add a light bar across the top and I will refurbish the interior.

Replacing the ignition switch and cylinder were easy to do once I removed the steering column covers. However, I never thought I would run into faulty key cylinder parts. All of the key cylinders I saw were missing the little pin lock, the very thing needed to keep the cylinder in place. I could not believe it. I ended up having to remove the very long pin lock from the old cylinder and inserting it into the very short – as in not so deep – drilled slot of the new cylinder after inserting the cylinder into the ignition switch. This gave me a clue that I will have to perform makeshift crap on aftermarket parts for my Jeep going forward. All of the cylinders I saw Friday were made in Taiwan. Not good.

Bottom line, I’m glad I replaced both parts because the poor ignition switch was busted. The pin that should have been at the six o’clock position was completely gone and the key cylinder was actually cracked. No wonder I had a hard time starting the thing.

Fortunately, I got it all in, got it all working, replaced the battery and voila, the Jeepster (wish I had one of those too) was back up and running. She was smoged on Saturday and she’s been eating up road ever since. I’m keeping her. I have not driven my Jeep in about 6-8 months and I can’t tell you how good it felt to drive her. Oh joy, or rapture.

Now, the Jeep and I are flipping through travel catalogs and planning a trip up North to Yosemite. We’re going to eat up some road and she has a very large grin on her face. I can’t wait and it appears the dogs can’t wait either. Now, with two large dogs, I need to cart them around in something other than my little Infiniti. That plan did not work well. As soon as the Jeep cranked up – with all of that power – one of my dogs hopped in waited for us to take off. We finally did, on Sunday, and they loved it. Oh yeah, we’re ready to roll again. Now we just need some dog-friendly campsites to visit. Oh joy.

Links:

• The Icon: Jeep Wagoneer
• History of the Jeep Liberty
• Wagoneer World

The Honda DN-01

I’ve been obsessing since I heard the roar of my neighbor’s bike. For a few weekends now I have heard that bike start up, rumble like a purring kitten — well, louder than a purring kitten — and finally, finally, I was able to see him pull from his garage, with those long handlebars, to begin his cruise down the street to places unknown. Ahhhhh, the joy of open air cycling and that’s when the obsession began.

So, I talked with a friend to find out what’s out today. Of course, Duder drives a Honda Goldwing, or what we used to call a “grandaddy bike.” That’s too much bike for me but he did mention the Honda Shadow and thought that would be to my liking. I looked at the Shadow but, no, not to my liking.

What I really want is a bike that is automatic, no chains, shaft drive, that will take some decent accessories for schlepping around stuff, like cameras or lunch for the day. Scooters are too small and I’ve seen a few humming around town looking for more power. I want a hybrid something between scooter and touring bike and I found it in the Honda DN-01. Yum!!

I know, I know, I wanted a motorhome at one point but gas prices froze that thought completely out of my head. If gas prices weren’t so high I would have had one in a heartbeat. They were good back in the day when gas prices were under a dollar a gallon, but not today. The next best thing? A bike.

The Honda DN-01 is the he world’s first crossover bike. Honda says of the bike:

Its styling and seating position alone set it completely apart, showing influence from the world of our sportbikes, sport touring machines, and cruisers. But underneath that bodywork the DN-01 is even more revolutionary, offering Honda’s radical new HFT Transmission (Human-Friendly Transmission). it’s an automatic—but an automatic unlike anything you’ve ever seen. You can shift it into six preset ratios, or you can let it function as a stepless, no-shifting Continuously Variable Transmission, or CVT. The DN-01 is a perfect choice if you’re looking to get into motorcycling, if you’re a long-time rider who wants to be on the most cutting-edge bike out there, or if you’re just looking for something completely different. This bike is going to turn heads like no other in 2009.

All dolled up with the right accessories

It’s a nice little “twist-and-go” too and I like that. After seeing a few videos of the bike — well, lots of videos of the bike — I fell in love with it. It’s just enough scooter and just enough touring bike to make me feel as if I’m eating Häagen-Dazs ice cream when it’s actually store brand.

I also like switchable shifting modes from two fully automatic—D mode for ordinary riding and S mode for a sporty riding experience—or the 6-speed manual mode, which gives riders the option of riding with a manual transmission feel. Oooo la la.

The bike features a 680cc engine which is more my speed. It has has a few — and I do mean a few as in short list — options but, those few options are actually pretty nice like heated grips with adjustable temperature, Honda Motorcycle Navigation Kit, speakers for a rider’s MP3 player, Bluetooth connection for a mobile phone, a motion and vibration sensitive anti-theft AVERTO alarm system, sturdy U-lock and a rugged, full bike cover.

Not an accessory by Honda but available for the DN-01 is the Givi Topcase Rack (Honda DN-01, ’09-), Givi Tubular Sidecase and PLX sideracks (Honda DN-01, ’09-), and a Givi Windscreen (Honda DN-01, ’09-). Unfortunately, I have found not crash bars for this bike and I’m used to crash bars or highway bars. I don’t like bikes falling on top of me and if at all possible, I like protecting the engine. So far, no see. Hopefully, a manufacturer will come out with something for this bike soon, before I end up purchasing one.

The jury is still out but I do want a bike and if the DN-01 returns for 2010 — or I’ll buy a used one — the DN-01 will be my pièce de résistance for summer 2010. Oh, the joy of open air riding.

Bike test: HONDA DN 01