The Jeep Talk Show’s Chic Chat weekly episode returns with Wendy and an exciting new team of women Jeepers! Join Natalie of Highlift Off Road, Janet of Precision Graphics and Marketing, and Ivana of Ivana Williams Armory for engaging discussions and insights. JTS Chic Chat is a woman-centric episode that celebrates the Jeep lifestyle from a female perspective. Don’t miss this empowering and fun-filled series!
Well, howdy, it’s Wendy, and I’m going to be one of your four hosts today on this episode of Chick Chat. Chick Chat is the place where we celebrate the perfect fusion of style and adventure. Now, Jeeps have long been synonymous with ruggedness, freedom, and the spirit of adventure. And who says women can’t embrace all of that and more?
Are you ready? It’s the Jeep Dog Show, Chick Chat.
And guys, I’m Natalie from High Lift Off Road, where you dream it and we build it. Hey, I’m Janet. I own Precision Graphics and Marketing. I’m a mom of two, and I’m in the North Dallas area.
Hi, guys. I’m Ivana Williams, and I’m a former state trooper, and I own a gun store, and I have four kids.
Woo-hoo!
All right, guys, on this episode, we are going to introduce the new Jeep Talk Show Chick Chat hosts, and that includes me, shockingly enough. As a regular Jeep Talk Show viewer or listener, you may have already known me, but who you may not know is Janet and Ivana. This is a new Chick Chat team. We’re all so excited to be here. Hey, guys. Oh, it’s so exciting. I can’t believe it. I mean, Natalie, you and I, we connected last year on a Chick Chat episode, but let’s welcome Janet and Ivana, you guys. Welcome. Oh, thank you. Thanks for having us.
So, I thought it would be fun for our listeners to maybe just get to know each of us a little bit more, since some of you maybe have been listening for a while, maybe you haven’t, it doesn’t really matter. You’re here today, and that’s what matters. So, Natalie, why don’t you start? Just tell us a little bit about your background, what you drive. Let’s just get right into it. We’re going to get into the mud pit with Natalie. That’s definitely my thing. Well, guys, yes. So, I’m Natalie from Heil and I am the one that bounces around when I talk on camera. So, sometimes Tony has to remind me to not bounce around. But I have a 2017 JKU four-door Wrangler, and she’s been going through a little bit of a glow-up process right now. So, I’ve been down for a little bit about a year. So, I’m really excited to get back. So, that’s a goal right now, is to try to finish the season. Get back on the road, and I’m actually kicking off next week at Smoky Mountain Jeep Invasion. So, I hope to catch some of you listeners inside the main building. I’ll be with the Bilstein booth rocking those shocks. So, I’ve been wheeling now actually only since 2019. I’m kind of new to the game, but I’ve had a Jeep since I was 16. We’re not going to go there about my age. We’re not going to talk about age on this show. We’re not talking about ages, girls. We’re not doing it.
But I started as a 16-year-old kid driving a Jeep, and it gave me the freedom that, I guess, we’ve all been seeking that our Jeeps give us. And then I had it for 19 years, and here we are. And they’re, “Oh my gosh, I’m aging me, guys.”
And here we are, fast forward. And I am with High Lift Off Road, which was a dream come true to be with them here at Bilclin, Cincinnati, and do a lot of trips with them. We do out trips out west, and Colorado is a mile list. Janet, you were just there. I can’t wait to hear about that. So, really exciting, exciting stuff coming up for all of us. And hopefully we all get to talk about it some more. That’ll be really cool, too. Yeah. Hopefully, you can tell on the actual west coast. I know you haven’t come any further than Colorado. I’m like, “Come on.” I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know.
Who brought you, girl?
Well, I grew up in San Antonio. I moved up to the Dallas area in 2000. I’ve only had my Jeep for about three years. She’s a 2017 JKU.
When I bought it from my ex-husband, it had a terrible lift on it. It had terrible mods. When I got into an accident last year, I was able to take it to a Jeep specialty shop. And they asked, you know, what are your goals? And I said, I just want to go off-roading. And so here we are. As of last month, I’m now on 40s and a five and a half inch lift and long arms. And it’s been quite the process to get from where she started. I’ve been away from the sport. Get rid of the X and get rid of the build.
Exactly.
I’ve only been wheeling since June of last year.
But I’ve hit a lot of the spots in Texas. I’ve been to hot Springs just recently. I got back from Colorado and Holy Cross, which was adventurous. But I already have a Jeep ready to go for my 11 year old daughter from when she turned 16. Good. So we’re going to get her. She comes off-roading with me. Yeah, she comes off-roading with me. She loves it. And so we’re just going to get that one fixed up for her. I own Precision Graphics and Marketing. I just opened that this year. We do branding for graphics for Jeeps and for any business and laser engraving stuff like that. But I’m happy to be here. I kind of jumped in. I went to the Hidden Falls Jeep talk show event.
That’s where I kind of ran into everybody and jumped on the round table and here it is. And here you are. That’s really cool. And actually after the show, I need to get your information because I’m looking at doing some graphics on our Jeep. Stuff that we’ve had done locally is just it’s all peeling and I’m tired of it. You know, you spend a lot of money for these graphics in any way. So we’ll talk about that. So well, welcome. I’m so excited to hear more. All right, Ivana, your turn. All right. So I’m Ivana. I am from Pearl, Mississippi, which is right outside Jackson. I’ve been here my whole life. And I have a gun store. I started two years ago. I used to be a trooper going through some stuff with that, trying to get back on. And I’m also a mother of four. So I’m stay busy. I just started doing this executive protection detail. So I bought a Tahoe. And so my Jeep is a 2014 Jeep Sahara. It’s battleship gray. And so a little funny story about that. I got divorced and in 2020 and I needed a vehicle that could tow something, you know, anything I needed. Basically, I needed to do something without a man. Right. So I got a Jeep that still had that cool factor. It fit all of my kids in it.
And I also could tow whatever I needed to. And it had that freedom adventure spirit to it. And that’s what I was looking for. So I actually, when I first bought it, because it’s battleship gray, I called it battleship. And it was going to ride me into victory. I love it. I love that. That’s awesome.
But no, it’s, it’s been great. I’ve been on a few trail rides. I’m in a Jeep group here in Mississippi.
And right now you guys are going to don’t say nothing, but I actually, I’m going to try, I’m trying to get sell it right now. And then eventually down the road, I want to get something else. So I’m kind of torn because my son is almost 15. So he could just have it next year, but with everything going on, I much rather in a year, just give him a newer Jeep since it is a 2014 and, you know, probably steal it from him a few times just to go off road. I have a 2008. There’s nothing wrong with an older Jeep. So let’s not even go there.
My first was 2000. So I was right there with you. Yeah. I, yeah, I love, love my Jeep, but it’s just one of those, like, got to try, got to try it out something right now. So you haven’t met her yet. So we saw a poem for adventure. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Time to change your mind. The other thing too, is you can also get in with groups and then ride with somebody, right? You don’t actually have to own one. Believe it or not, you can go and have these adventures and do that kind of stuff. So very cool. Well, welcome. Well, let me tell you a little bit about myself for the listeners who don’t know. I am on the Jeep talk show. I’m part of the flagship episode, a co-host with Tony and Larry on Tuesdays. I sort of developed and expanded a section called Newbie Nuggets. And I love to take information and bring it down to the level of somebody who’s a brand new Jeeper, or maybe they’ve been sitting in the passenger side for a while now they want to try to drive. And that’s kind of where my whole focus is. I’m also part of a team out here in Big Bear, California, which is Southern California, Trails 411, where we actually take people in their own vehicle out on our specific trails for training. So we do a basic class, we do an advanced rock crawling, and we also do recovery.
So we are very involved in helping people to get out on the, in the dirt, have some fun, explore, understand what their vehicle can and can’t do. And then we’re involved in a lot of other things where we do events and training at those events. So we get a chance to reach out to a lot of different people. So I’m pretty excited about it. I have a 2008 JKU. It is on 37s. We have done pretty much everything to it. Love my PSC steering with Ram Assist.
You know, just all the cool things. Love my tires. I’m a next entire girl and I will be probably till the end. We do a lot of tire testing as well with Don Alexander, who’s one of the partners for Trails 411. He’s written a bunch of books. We’re part of that as well, my husband and I. So it’s kind of cool that we’re able to reach out and give people a chance to learn about things rather than the hard way. You know what I’m saying? So it’s kind of cool. But anyway, excited to have everybody on. So I thought maybe we just give some more information, maybe talk about maybe what is one of your guys’s wish list of what you want to do at what trail that’s out there. I know there’s a lot of them, but is there one trail that stands out that you’re like, I kind of want to try that. So what do you think? Who wants to go first?
So I don’t want to say it was a trail and I haven’t got to do it. And whenever I was working, it just seemed to never work out like I was going to make the trip and I got called into work or I had court or something like that. But what I wanted to do is I wanted to put on my Jeep, one of those tents, you know, keep like, you know, hold it out and have it. So I wanted to do that and go all the way to like Colorado and then just keep on going Wyoming wherever I like end up. And that was going to be my like place to sleep is just me and Jeep in the country. And that was it. And I have a great way to do it. That is a great way. And they’re amazing. There’s so much fun. Yes. And there’s so much to see in this country. You know, that’s one thing about Jeeps is it gets us off road. It gets us the chance to see things that you can’t see in a regular vehicle. So that’s you need to put that on your list, girl, and go for it. Do not stop that dream. I love that. You haven’t sold it yet. So I camper from high lift off road. We’ll ship it right to you. There you go. She’s got a connection.
And I overland to Marriott’s unfortunately, but I support you like my room. Like I’m not going to camp, but I’m going to glamour. Cool. All right, Janet, what about you? What’s your trail that you have listed in your brain that you’re saying, I got to get to that. Well, it’s not so much just one trail, but I do want to get out to Moab. I am trying to make it. I know I’m trying to make it just a goal to get there. If not EJS, then somewhere around there. Yeah.
The trails look amazing. And Hell’s Gate is like kind of like, I guess out of all of them, because I’m not scared to do appreciate. But, you know, I’ll do it if I have some good people just turn me on. But Hell’s Gate just seems to be like the one that I just want to get up it and and see how it does. So yeah, Moab is definitely my my bucket list for next year. I love that. Around April. Well, yeah. And the Jeep talk show team is there. I think we had like 10 or 15 people from the show, people that listen and part of the round table. So it’s becoming quite the gathering with a lot of people. I haven’t been there yet. It’s also part of one of my son, one of my lists because it’s maybe two to two day drive for me. But it’s just timing, you know, that kind of stuff. But I agree. That’s got some beautiful scenery and stuff. So all right, Natalie, you’ve been all over. So you’re like, my goal, I think right now is to get Janet to come on my Moab trip in twenty twenty five and go Moab twenty twenty five is happening. And that’s what made me fall really in love with what I’ve been doing. So I went to Moab last year and hosted a trip. I actually just volunteered. I was like, they invited me and I said, yeah, I’ll go. So I bought my plane ticket, went out there. I did Pritchett Canyon and that’s what I fell in love with it. So Pritchett was absolutely incredible.
Hard, so hard, but so worth it. And actually held gate and held revenge. I was driving for the first time and we came around the turn and the gentleman I was riding with, I was driving his brand new 392 gladiator that high just built. And I’m thinking, you’re trusting me. I just landed like, yeah.
So we came on turn, he goes, take a deep breath, Natalie, and I just want you to look look up. And I looked up and there’s all these people see the top and they’re all waiting for you. And he goes, just keep breathing. No meltdowns. Just go. And I was like, OK, just hit the gas and go. So, you know, definitely, High Life Expeditions is amazing thing. It’s amazing program. We take all skill levels. So we’d love to. We’ll talk about it later. That could be a whole episode, guys. So you know, a goal for me this year is first of all, to get back in the woods. Like that would be nice.
That’s happening. You know, five more days. I keep saying it five more days.
So I’m really excited. But I’m a Jean Pass. I keep coming back to Colorado.
I’m a Jean Pass has been on my list for a while. It’s a beautiful area. It is. Yeah. And so that one, that’s that’s that’s pretty much at the top right now, along with the Rubicon Trail. So there are two different spots, but Rubicon, that’s like a that’s tied for first right now. So yeah, for me, it’s the Rubicon, I think, just because I’ve done so much of the big trails that we have here in Big Bear. You guys ever get yourself out this way? We’ve got some amazing black diamond trails that are just epic.
But the Rubicon for the badge of honor is a 10, where everybody else is rated like an eight or a seven and below, even though they’re tough. So it would just be something to do. It is something we have to camp. So Ivana, you might think about that. It is a camping like about three days.
Bring a dog. Darn it. But you know, really, that dogs aren’t allowed on the trail. But inside like a state park. Is that what it is? Or is it?
I’m not sure. But I know they regulate a lot of things. You know, you can get there through G-Gamboree, you can get through different events and you want to definitely go with somebody who’s obviously been there. But it’s funny because I see video of the trails and I’m thinking, gosh, we have stuff like this here in Big Bear. I don’t see why that’s so difficult. But you know how video is, right? You take this awesome video of this incredible like Hell’s Gate. You’re like, that looks so good. I’m just doing a really good job on this. And then you didn’t go, that doesn’t look that hard. So I’m sure it will be. But when I see the carnage and people that are damaging and breaking and I’m thinking, are they sending it or what are they doing? You know, because that’s not how I wheel.
You know, I’m not one that’s the reason. Exactly. So, but anyway, I think Rubicon for me is probably up there. Of course, EJS, I want to one day get to Hidden Falls and do the JTS event.
That’s probably a good two day drive for us. We would be putting the Jeep on a trailer and coming out that way because I’m not going to drive it and then have something happen and I can’t get home. That’s something you got to think about.
But anyway, I would like to do that as well. And then of course, there’s so many other events out there like what you’re going to next week, you know, Smokey Mountain for sure. So anyway, that’s all good stuff. I’d love to get these West Coasters on the East Coast a little bit and vice versa, you know, we need to like switch it up. I guess. But West needs to go East and East needs to go West. Exactly. Yes. And so that’s really cool.
It’s interesting you guys that have kids and you wheel with your kids. Do you find that to be a challenge at times? How old are your kids? I guess I should say two because if they’re older, they’re probably not a challenge, but little ones, it’s always interesting when you take them along. So share if you guys have little ones or big ones, doesn’t matter.
My daughter is 11. I’m sorry. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, my daughter is 11. She’s she has been with me on a few trips and she’s not an outdoorsy type person. She’s more of a city girl. And so trying, you know, get on on trails, I had told her, you know, there are no bathrooms on the trail. So we had to teach her how to do that. But she loves it. They’re initially and just like all of us when we start wheeling, getting off camber feeling, you know, the tilts and all that it can get kind of scary. So initially she would get out during the big obstacles. And now she tend to have it has a tendency to stay in.
It’s I don’t see any difference with her with me. I think the biggest part of it when I do get through a huge obstacle is having her watch me do that and just keep going and keep trying it and not giving up and persevere until I finally get over it. We went to Smore earlier this year and there were some pretty big obstacles we went over and I was on 35 at the time. I was the smallest one of the group. And getting over the obstacles and I would turtle a couple of times, but it was just that determination. I want to show her what you can do. If you just put your mind to it, then then you can make it and yeah, I think that’s a really good message that we don’t think about when we’re out there with our kids in this environment, we’re teaching them not only how to persevere and work, but also think about stuff. And, you know, we’re preserving trails and we’re there’s so many lessons that you can teach and they’re also watching you. I think your strength and your ability to not freak out at the moment, which we’re all entitled to do, by the way, you know, but that truth right there is amazing that your daughter gets to watch you do that. So that’s pretty cool. So yeah, I think doing that and she’s fallen in love with Jeep. So it kind of just pushed me to get that Jeep for her and get it ready to go. So I live years to build it. You’re going to fly by that five years for sure. Oh my gosh, you’re so right. All right, Ivana. All right. So I’ve got four kids. And like I was saying, I got mine four years ago in 2020. Right. So I had my oldest was 10 and then I had like a four year old, six year old, seven year old, so little ones, right? Little ones. Yeah. And being divorced and having four kids, it was very difficult for me to like go anywhere with four kids by myself. And so I started getting involved in this Jeep group and it was like a family. So we don’t really have any huge trails around here, but we have, it’s more of just adventure like, Hey, we’re all going to get together and we’re going to go kayaking or we’re all going to get together. I’m going to go down this back road to go at a historic mansion or something like that. But it was more of just the venture behind it and me taking my kids somewhere that they’ve never been.
And so that was the most exciting thing I got to see. And then all my kids, since they are little and all that, they loved like jeeping the coast. If you guys haven’t heard about that, you should definitely come.
That’s in my neck of the woods. So they loved watching all the different Jeeps, all the different colors and sizes and like all the different graphics and stuff that you can put on it. And so it was more of like a big show for them. Like, Oh, who’s going to be here? And you know, who’s in the leader of the pack? You know, a convoy, but it was just more like a family situation. And that’s what I enjoyed about it. So I think it’s really interesting too, because you said family and I think that’s really what the jeeping community is about. And when you find a good group of people that you enjoy wheeling with that follows the tread lightly rules or whatever your philosophies are, I just think it’s amazing. To me, finding this community of where I live up here is, I mean, you have a problem, especially in women, you know, you need to connect with people so that if you have an issue or problem and you just need to know what does this code mean? And what do I need to do about it? You know, if you’re somebody who wants to wrench on your own vehicle or you want to just take it somewhere, you need to have that knowledge to be able to do that. So I think it’s pretty cool. Natalie, do you have kids? I do not. I have my cats that we’ve all heard about quite often lately. My horses and my dogs. So no kiddos, but I’m a great aunt to a lot of other kids. So but that’s okay. But I will say I had the pleasure of having some kids ride with me. I have a lovely young gentleman. He’s going to be a freshman this year, but last year he was in eighth grade and he drove my Jeep all through a program that I was doing called Trail Team Off-Road Adventures and was a one-on-one class and I had him drive. So I was his passenger. So it was great for me because I got to go get out, was able to handle the guests and work with them on each obstacle. And he would pull the Jeep forward, but I also was teaching him at the same time. So his parents Jeep is very well built. A whole thing, right? I was running open open on 35s. They’re on 40s. So he was like, this is just so different than my mom and dad’s. And I’m like, well, yeah, guess what? You’re going to learn how to drive this thing and become better. This is not a point and shoot. It takes.
And by the end of the day, well, now he’s my shadow and we have a great time. But shout out to Mason. So yeah, so I mean, I feel like I have this great network of kids and everyone’s very generous. They just keep throwing their kids in my Jeep and I’m like, oh, that’s a great experience.
But then I give them all back, you know, so it’s good. It’s all good. I’m always doing like little segments on the Jeep Talk Show about things that you need to think about with your kids. So you guys with the little ones, what was the one or two things that you had to have with you on every run with for them, specifically for them?
Naps.
Snacks. It’s always a good snack. Yeah, naps. I was like, I’m like, naps for me. I’m good for that.
I wonder why I said it. I want a nap. Right. A good day of wheeling. You get like some people get stuck and you just can just chill in the Jeep. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah, I would agree. Snacks snacks. I have a cooler that one of those Yeti Coolers fits perfect in the back and like it has to have, you know, the water and all the little uncrut what crusticles or whatever it’s called. Yes. They’ve got to have that and some drinks and all that. It’s like they’re they got to eat every hour. I’m like, we just left the house. But with that back area and all that, like the cooler fits perfect. So why not just load them up? And that way we don’t have to worry about it. Yeah. So what one thing that I did not necessarily kid related, but any time that I have a big baggie, I made up this thing with a Ziploc bag and it’s got like, I don’t know, six or seven things of toilet paper in it. Right. So it’s like a little special for people, especially women. And like Janet, you mentioned I had a way to teach the daughter how to use the restroom out there. So I found that to be a pretty interesting item to have on board no matter what, because sometimes you’re on a run and there’s somebody brand new that they brought. And the person driving that Jeep didn’t think to tell them, hey, there’s this possibility. So what I do is promoted it that this is a Ziploc baggie. You go to the bathroom, you know, disappear behind the tree. Anything that’s female oriented needs to get back in that bag. Right. So we’re not leaving anything on the trails. So I think just educating people, too. But that’s one thing that I have. I don’t have little kids. I do have a daughter and I do have grandkids, but they don’t come out with me as much. So I don’t have to worry about that. But I thank you for the tip on the snacks. I think that’s probably one of the good ideas. But anyway, so that would be my tip as far as sharing just something that I have to have on board, regardless of all the other tools and equipment that we have. But is those baggies so that any woman who’s on board or is in the group, I can just say, here you go. This is what you need to do. And I think it makes her feel comfortable that she’s not like embarrassed. Right. Because if you’re not used to the outdoors, what are you going to do? You know, you can’t hold it the whole time. I can tell you that. So I did something similar. I was like, I’m going to do that one day. So because I ran that issue with one of my clients and I was like, OK, from now on as the as females, we’re kind of one in a million more on the trail half the time. Right. So so when you have like that, another person that quickly we all bond together, I use actually the dog waste bags. Oh, yeah. That I have like an influx from my shepherd. So I ordered from Mutt Mitt. Shout out to Mutt Mitt.
And it’s been amazing. I was like, well, that was a good idea.
I totally get that. The bag is great. But you have like dog Mutt Mitts, you know.
And having it in a Ziploc for me, it makes it easy to put it in a trash bag that we obviously have on board. But there is no issue. So if you have little ones that require diapers to be the same thing, put the diaper in a Ziploc and then throw it in the trash bag. I just think it makes things nice. And of course, there are bags you can hang outside of the Jeep depending on how long the trail ride is. But it is funny how you don’t. I think we take it. Take it for granted. Those of us who’ve been in the outdoors, who, you know, I’ve been riding horses my whole life. I have no problem getting off a horse and going somewhere in the bathroom. None of them. So getting into the jeeping world, this was not an issue for me. But yet you run across people all the time that this is not something that is explained to them. You know, so I think as mentors, especially us women that are driving and you see somebody new in a group, you got to say, hey, you know, are you familiar with or do you understand? And we always joke. We would say that the women go to the right when you stop. Right. And the men go to the left because women are always right. You guys agree with that? I put that on a copycat. That’s right. But anyway, you can have that conversation with somebody uncomfortable and say, don’t worry, I’ve got you covered. Give her a little baggie and it’s her own personal little whatever, you know. So anyway, I just think that’s cool. But yeah, it is cool. I do.
So any other tips or things that you guys want to suggest or give her? I do have a question if you guys have mine. So I’m Italian or food oriented. So we were talking about snacks. So what is everyone’s go to favorite trail snack?
For mine is grapes. I got to have the green grape ready to go in the container. Already pulled off the deal. Ready to go. Have you tried freezing them first and then putting them in the cooler? No.
Blew my mind. This is the last thing you went on. I froze the grapes. Put them in because it was hot. We were just it was we were ending that spring season. But it was still hot outside. Those frozen grapes are a game changer. And I’m doing it. Look at she’s like, I’m writing it down. So excited. Why ask this question, guys? Yeah, frozen.
Frozen, frozen bananas.
It’s good. I don’t know how old like I don’t know if it’ll hold up in a cooler or not, but it’s it just do that home. Yeah. So bananas really thin and freeze it. It’s amazing. Like chips. So for me, it’s like a mix of nuts, like almonds. And then I like like cranberry and a little bit of chocolate in there. Then the other thing I do does on every trip is I forget who it is. I think it’s Quaker Oats makes the rice cakes, the small little guys. So instead of having chips, you still get sort of this healthy benefit to it. But you need something to crunch. So those are my two. Got to have them on every trip period. So I do feel like if I don’t have the grape situation, it’s like I don’t wheel as well. It’s like my mind’s not there. I like little power pellets for you. Yeah, they are. They give me confidence like, oh, gosh, you’re like, call them nice. But I think it’s nice to have that constant like I think when you’re wheeling, especially if you’re going on hard obstacles or hard trail, having that comfort of something that’s good for you like that you it’s a constant. Yeah, we don’t have that many more surprises. Yeah. So like for me on the yeah, there’s plenty of surprises, especially something breaks. Like you don’t need you just want that comfort food. Yes. Comfort snacks. For me, beef jerky trail mix, having waters, of course, and there’s some kind of caffeine. I had to adjust what I ate for on the trail when we went to Colorado because I’m from Texas. So we have a flatland here and it’s super low. Getting into Colorado, we went on Radical Hill, which is radical. The trail to get up the mountain is as wide as a regular vehicle. And it is nerve wracking.
It kind of took us a while that we had four Jeeps in our group. But by the time I got to the top, which is like, I can’t remember the altitude. We’re going to throw out like 10,000 feet. We hadn’t eaten. We ate breakfast, but we hadn’t eaten lunch. We had a head start for snacks. Yeah. So we had between an adrenaline dump, sugar crash and the altitude. I got altitude sickness. And so I had a friend wheeling with me that he had lived in Colorado for a while. He was a ski instructor. I literally thought I was having a heart attack, chest pain, having trouble breathing. And he said, nope, we got to get you down at least a couple thousand feet. We need high protein. So it changed the way that I look at how, you know, you’re going on these obstacles and you’re going to get high and you’re going and then you keep them down and then it’s up and then it’s down and having to maintain that sugar level and protein intake. I didn’t realize how important that was until I got there. So that’s going to change the way of how I pack my snacks from here on out. I mean, I think hydration and I do a lot of like electrolytes you can put in water. Yes. That’s one thing I noticed too, that people don’t think about when they’re coming out for the first time because they’re nervous. And when you’re nervous or even excited, you can even slip that around, not be nervous. Just be excited about the trip. You’re burning energy and boy, you’re burning that stuff. So I think hydration powders, you can get little, you know, tablets you can put in or anything like that is also a good one to have on board because you just don’t know like yourself. You had no idea that you would have an altitude issue, you know, being from flat Texas. Here you are now in these mountains that you love and adorable. You’re going, why do I feel like I’m going to die? Right. And I had been to Colorado last year for my birthday, but it wasn’t to do wheeling. It was just kind of a trip and I had hiked. And so I didn’t think I was going to have any issues. I didn’t count on the amount of adrenaline ups and downs I was going to have. And that was a huge contributing factor. And so when I go back, you’ll feel like a game changer. I might even bring one of those little oxygen tanks. They sell their mass station. Those days saved my life. When I’m when I’ve been out there, I rode horses from Bail to Aspen a couple of years ago and had a touch of it and apples and the tank, those little portable, like you just suck, you know, Oh my gosh. Brings you right back. Yeah, it’s funny living here in Big Bear. We’re at about 8,000 elevation, more like seven. The actual people living the slopes are set or eight. You can find those canisters of that for anybody who comes up. And that happens a lot up here. People come up to vacation and whether doing the lake or they’re skiing in the winter time. And it’s a big issue. So you do have to think about that. If you’re going to do an elevation change that you’re not used to, your body’s not acclimated to it. That is a really good point to, to mention to anybody wheeling in an area they’re not familiar with to make sure that you’re thinking about these things. Lots of protein hydration and those oxygen tanks.
Liquid IV, I can tell you guys that powder is amazing. It’s a hollow back in May. I was really dehydrated and didn’t know it being out in the desert. So I didn’t realize why was I feeling so nauseous like every morning? Oh, that’s it. You brought me back every time. So really cool. I’ll have to check that out. Amazon. Sadly, Amazon.
Got it. High lift. Maybe Michael Bailey, if you’re listening, can we start talking? Liquid IV. Thanks. Yeah, please. Because I need some now.
All right. So let me think I’m going to ask if there’s any kind of a mod that you want to do on your Jeep, but you haven’t for whatever reason. Doesn’t matter what the reason is, but what would you want to change or what do you want to change? What’s on your list?
Well, like I was saying earlier, I want to put that. I want to put the big tent on it just so I can go backpacking through the woods and not have to go find anywhere to pull off and get a hotel or anything. But since I’ve got it, since I got my Jeep four years ago, I put a three inch lift on it. Thirty five tires, twenty wheels. I put a new grill. The radio like messed up. I don’t. Supposedly, that’s normal. The radio goes out. I don’t know. But I have a new radio on it. I added decals all over. So it’s got my logo from my armory and it’s got bullets. It looks like it’s been shot up by like a 50. I love it.
Perfect. So I got all that. It’s just lights. I would put new lights on it because the headlights are a little bit dim, but the tent ideal and definitely some new lights would be my next go to.
Yeah. And that that tent and that tent comes with other things that you’ll need to be adding, by the way. It’s not just had by the tent. Let’s go. You’re going to still you know, you’ll be that’s part of jeeping, by the way. You know, when you go on a run and you look at everybody else’s rig, you’re like, wow, that’s really cool. What is that? So, again, depending on I always tell somebody when they’re starting out, what do you want to do if you’re just going to do some basic overlanding, you know, some basic roads. You don’t need to spend all this money and do all this stuff to your Jeep. But if you’re going to hit the trails and you want to do the rougher stuff and you want to get into rock climbing and all kinds of different stuff, rock calling, actually not climbing.
That would be interesting. We’re climbing. Yeah, we are climbing. But that is true. You know, so, again, Ivana, I’m just going to encourage you to seriously think about that goal for yourself and get into it because you would really probably just enjoy that peace and quiet and having that comfort. You’re up high. You know, you’re in the Jeep. It’s good for young. When you get older, climbing up that high is not going to work that little narrow ladder. I see these tents. I’m like, yeah, that would have been good years ago.
Well, I have a goal in mind. So ever since I got a Jeep, I have a gun store, but I want to do a gun range, right? Yeah. And you’ve got you’ve got to go to the gun, the place where you’re going to shoot anyway. So you might as well have a big enough for a Jeep trail. Yeah. That’s my plan down the road is to have enough land where I actually have trails for Jeeps, ATVs and and have it on my like gun range because here in Mississippi. Yeah. Gun range is only good for like October to April. And then after that, it’s just way too hot. But that’s when it would be good for Jeep trail and ATVs to go through. And there’s plenty of rolling hills here and just mud. You get that sippy mud. So I think it’d be a pretty good trail. Maybe it might be some comparison with you guys up in the north, just a different environment. I think that’s kind of a cool idea, though, actually, you think about it because a lot of people that Jeep probably would enjoy shooting. And I think it’s a great idea to put those two together. And then if you can do some overlanding in the middle of that, why not? Right. I mean, how cool would that be? So very cool. If I, if you can, I would recommend coming out to Hidden Falls over here in Texas because they do have some of it is a gun range. And then the other part is the off-road park. So I would definitely check that out. You’ll have to send me a link of where to go. Because that definitely, I would love to see somebody else place in action before I start building my place. And that’s not that far, right? Janice Hidden Falls from her in Mississippi, right? A day, maybe. Yeah, I should just. Yeah, less than a day. At least you’re just shooting straight across because it’s near Marble Falls, which is near Austin. So if you know where Austin is, it’s kind of in that area. Yeah. It was like eight hours away. Yeah. Yeah. Easy peasy, girl. Just go check out that. And then when you get set up, you need to let me know. I mean, yes, I’m in California. I know it’s not a good thing, but I’m very much a proponent of what you’re doing and the store. And I do a lot of different competitions and things like that. You can fly to here and use mine heat and go through the trail. There we go. I love it. I’m going to do that. So. All right, Natalie, what’s the one mod you’re thinking about? So it’s funny, Janet, you said something earlier about when you first started doing your build, you went to a shop and they said, well, what are your goals? So I think that is so important because that that question was never asked to me when I first started my build a few years ago.
So that’s something I keep asking myself now, even though, like, yes, I’m doing another build right now. But it’s a question you should always keep asking yourself. I think it’s going to keep evolving, keep changing.
So before I just want to be able to go on the beach. That’s I built my Jeep to go on the beach on 35, two and a half left. JKS left like I was super happy with it. Well, now I want to be able to rock crawl big time with the big boys and girls.
So so my my my goal right now is that PSC system brand.
That is a game changer. I’m telling you there’s oh, man. Yeah. I struggle even on the 35 like here in Kentucky, Wheeling. So yeah, I’m in Cincinnati, but Kentucky is right here. There’s a great spot to go. We feeling I’m in record for gorgeous call, but I’m constantly fighting on the turn. And, you know, and that’s when you need to be able to maneuver at your best is when you’re going vertical. So that is on my bucket list big time. So that it was a game changer for us. I can tell you right now, because, you know, having the muscle and the strength to actually pull that wheel and to make it move. And then when you start getting into rock crawling, there is some minute movements that you need to track those rare tires. There’s nothing to do with the fronts, believe it or not. But you need to make those adjustments. And when you’re you know, I spot a lot. I’m pretty good at it, according to people. I don’t know if that’s the truth or not, but that’s what I’ve been told. Move where you are. But as far as spotting, and I have to remember now who has PSC and who doesn’t, because who doesn’t? There needs to be more time to give them a chance to make the movement that you need that’s so critical when you’re crawling on rocks. So it is interesting, but you’re going to love it. And hopefully you’re going to do the the RAM assist with it because it’ll really make a difference. I mean, you just got to buck up and do it. Do it. Do it all. So I’m really hoping I can get that done soon. So that’ll be good for us. I don’t have too much that I would want to mod because we’re really happy with where it is. My husband and I were on thirty sevens. I do run thirty fives on the street if I need to do a daily driver. But I love my Nexon MTX, Rodeon MTX is for crawling. And I just there really isn’t much else we want to do. I mean, I have the power tank. We have the PSC steering, maybe a rear axle eventually. I think that’s the one last thing that we haven’t done. But it’s not like we have to do it. So, you know, I don’t really it doesn’t really matter to me. What do you have right now?
Um, whatever came out of the 40, the 44. Yeah, the yeah, whatever came on the 2008. So and we’ve trust everything we’ve got skidded plates underneath. I’ve got awesome rock sliders because we use that on rocks a lot. So there isn’t a whole lot that I think about doing. Maybe, you know, somewhere down the road, redoing the paint. But again, I have scratches and stuff are done because that’s what we do. And, you know, out here, you know, going to get stuff like that. So for me, I don’t have anything specific that I’m thinking about wanting to do. It’s not on my list. So I’m fortunate that way. Happy that we’re at the spot we’re at. So who knows, though, right? It’s a 2008. So it’s like, we’ll see what happens. There’s always a goal somewhere, even when you don’t expect it. Oh, trust me. It’s always saying, great, we’re all good. Yeah, let’s go out and break something lovely. Now we’re doing an upgrade. So pretty cool.
All right. Well, do you guys have anything else you want to say or share that we didn’t cover? I know there’s more I want to talk to you on about with her gun store. Dang it. Episode for another time, guys. I know we need another session, girl.
We get into all that good stuff. So anything else you guys want to say?
Now, I just want to say thanks for let me come on. I’m new to the jeeping world, even though I’ve had it for a couple of years and I’ve done a few things with the chief group I’m in, as far as all the ends and outs of everything. All I was told when I first got the jeep was get it as new as you can. Or because you just don’t know what somebody does off road. And so that’s what I look for whenever I got a new jeep. And I got it. It was somebody that owned a jeep place in Texas, actually, but I can’t remember where it was. But she was friends with my sister and she told me just look for something that people haven’t done, a big lift and all that. So when I got the jeep, it was just factory.
Yeah, so it’s been fun to kind of see the upgrades and how it’s changed. But I’m definitely new to everything. And so I’m kind of learning myself. Well, and by the way, a stock jeep off the showroom floor is so capable. Okay. It is beyond what you think. I’m not kidding you. You know, sure, you’re not going to do the big massive, you know, like big rock crawling that, you know, you need to have a lift and protection underneath. But standard, you can do most of those moderate trails down into the basics. And there are hundreds and hundreds of thousands of miles in this country of awesome trails that you can do with stock jeep. So don’t think if you’re listening, gosh, I got to wait to go out because I got to build mine up. You don’t, you know, you do not. I actually prefer to take people out in a stock because then they know what they really can do. Yes, take your time and build it the right way. The right way. Yes. The right way. Not not just because your friend has something on it. Right. And building it to your needs. Right. Right. I think that’s an important question when you start looking at modifications, like we talked about. Now you brought it up. What is your goal? Yeah, what is your goal? I wanted to go big or go home. So in a year’s time, you know, I modified crap out of it. But, you know, here we are today. But this will be, I mean, I need a new drive shaft because I messed up my my boot. I have the hidden balls you talked to. And I went a little too hard on an obstacle. Oh, dear.
Yeah, it was. I have it on video and it’s just scraped it up. So there was oil grease everywhere. So, yeah, drive shaft is next flares.
Amazon ones would do okay for a while. You know, I’m on nemesis calling your name. I know it.
I’m just, you know, I want them. But the drive shaft money comes first and then we can talk about flares. Yes. Yes. But I think doing it a little bit at a time and learning how to do stuff on your own a little bit. I trust my Jeep shop to do the big stuff, right? I want it done right. I want it done accurately with attention to detail and I’ll do the little stuff. So yeah. Yeah, I think that’s important, too, especially as women in this industry. You do need to be, you know, pick up the wrench and figure out how to do some basic stuff. I mean, when you finish a run, you need to be able to look underneath your Jeep and see is everything still attached? You know, do I have loose screws and things like that? And, you know, I talk about this on the show all the time that you need to do sort of a checklist before you do a run and also when you get back. And I think it’s great that we’re out there trying. I certainly don’t know everything about taking an engine apart and redoing it. But at least I know enough to help me get through some things if I needed to and having the right gear on board and all that. So that’s just kudos to all of us for keep trying and keep doing and, you know, keep persevering out there. So I love it. Oh, thank you, guys. Well, that’s it for this episode of Chick Chat. No. But don’t worry, guys. I think we’re definitely going to be back. You’ll see all of us soon. We hope you’ve been inspired by the story today. I know I was. Remember that there are no limits to what you can achieve when you embrace your passion and fearlessly chase your dreams.
Absolutely. It’s been fun, you guys. So nice to meet you all. Zoom. Guys, have a good evening again soon.
Thank you. Thank you, guys. And remember, if you’ve enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to Chick Chat. You can find us on On and Never Miss an Empowering Story or Insightful Discussion About Women in the Off-Road Community. Connect with us on social media using the hashtag hashtag JTSChickChat and share your own off-road adventures, favorite trails and stylish Jeep moments.
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