October 2021 – 4×4 Radio Network

This Week In Jeep

Electric Jeeps Place 1st and 2nd in Competitive Off-Road Rally

The 2021 Jeep Wrangler 4xe came first and second in the 2021 Rebelle Rally. It is the first-ever electrified vehicle to win this race since it began six years ago. The Rebelle Rally is the longest competitive off-road rally in the U.S. It covers more than 1553 miles of terrain between Nevada and California. The drivers of this all-women race must use roadbooks, paper maps, or even a compass to navigate their vehicles over the course of eight days. The winner isn’t necessarily the fastest but rather the one with the best navigation and most precise driving.

First-place winners were team 4xEventure consisting of Teralin Petereit and Nena Barlow driving a Wrangler Rubicon 4xE. Petereit was previously placed on the podium in two other Rebelle Rally races, which makes her the most successful competitor ever. Taking second place was a mother-daughter team made up of Christine and Emily Benzie. They too drive a 2021 Wrangler Rubicon 4xe.

Although not placing in this race, coming in 29th overall, an honorable mention goes out to team Asdzáá Skoden Rebelles who is the first all-Navajo team to take part in the Rebelle Rally. The two drivers, Shandiina Peters and Racquel Black were first-time competitors but finished the eight-day race in 29th place with their Wrangler Rubicon 4xe. If you are interested in this incredible race or may know somebody who might be, we’ll have a link where you can learn more in the show notes for this episode at JeepTalkShow.com https://www.rebellerally.com/

Jeep Cherokee Plant Extends Layoffs

Production at the Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois will be down through the rest of October due to the global semiconductor shortage. The plant, which according to Stellantis employs over 2300 hourly workers, builds the Jeep Cherokee. The Belvidere plant has had significant periods of downtime this year and in July went down to a single shift, reflecting both the toll of the chip shortage as well as lagging demand for the Cherokee. Belvidere has taken the largest production hit of any of Stellantis’ plants in North America, according to forecasting firm AutoForecast Solutions, with over 120k units of lost production as of the time of this recording. Globally, the chip shortage could cost the automotive industry as much as $210 billion in lost revenue this year, according to a recent estimate from consulting firm AlixPartners LLP. The firm projects lost production volume could total 7.7 million vehicles globally for the 2020 calendar year.

Jeep Life – With Jeep Momma

Tony Josh and Wendy… Well, we made it back from Hole in the Rock unscathed. What an intense trail. Very long and you need to be on you’re A-game for almost all the trial. Unfortunately, we did not make it all the way to the end. We still had 1.7 miles left and decided to turn around. That 1.7 miles probably would have taken at least 2 hours there then 2 hours back. We were on a time crunch plus we didn’t want to change it with the gas. I am pretty sure we would have made it on the gas since we trailered our Jeeps into the trail but we didn’t want to change it as the area is one of the most remote places in the US. I have no idea why the Mormans picked the route they did. I am impressed with their fortitude and determination. We at least had a track to follow. Pushing those hand carts through that terrain must have been extremely difficult. The trail is pretty easy to navigate the first half of the trail. I highly suggest you get a GPS map of the trail as there were several times we got off track which is very easy to do. I had heard there are those “Black track” tire tracks to follow as you see in Moab. However, the trail isn’t used a lot like Moab so those tracks are non-existent in a lot of areas. There are Carins to follow… sometimes. Carins are the rock-stacked formations used as trail markers. There are also some trail markers at the beginning of the trail. There are tire tracks in patches of sand but you have to be very careful. Some of those tracks are dirt bikes and some tracks lead you to nowhere and to rock buggy parts of the trail. As you go deeper into the trail it becomes more and more difficult to keep track of the trail as you are on the rocks. I drove the whole way in and I let Neil drive the whole way back. Well, I did get out at one point to traverse an obstacle. It is the beginning of what they call poopie pants hill. It is an off-camber very narrow section that is a rock face on your drivers’ side and the passenger side is a drop-off. They have shored up the passenger side with some rebar-type material but that looked sketchy at best. Neil did navigate it for me. If you were off a millimeter you would have rolled the Jeep. Now Neil never gets nervous or scared or freaked out. NEVER. Bleepin Jeep even calls him sketchy Neil. However, this section freaked him out. We stopped there for the night as it was getting close to sunset. We had some more of poopie pants hill to climb. There was a really cool camp spot as it opened up into a cool cavern. We spent the night in this cavern with a coyote as we heard him drinking water from some pools of water. The next day I continued up poopie pants hill and traversed the rocks to the chute. It is kind of like Hells Gate on Hells Revenge. I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it as I have a hard time going down. But Neil wouldn’t take no for an answer. It really wasn’t that bad once you got going. There are several vertical rock faces you need to climb and then go back down on the way out. Jeep Badge of Honor rates the trail a 4 to 6. I would definitely score some of the obstacles as higher than a 6 especially after being on the Rubicon Trail. It’s a long trail that can be exhausting. Since we did it late fall our hours of daylight were shortened. We did take our time on the way in which we could have gained time if we didn’t dilly dally at the beginning. A Jeep Momma tip for you. Make sure all the roads are open heading to the trail before you head out. There was a washout on Utah 95 heading to the trail so we were detoured. We ended up on some sketchy unknown gravel road with steep climbs and turns with our Jeeps on trailers. Then on the way out the detour directed us to Mexican Hat Utah. Little did we know we were on Utah’s Scariest Road. HOLY MOLY. It is called Moki Dugway. “Dugway” is a term used to describe a roadway carved from a hillside. The Moki Dugway Scenic Backway is a stretch of Highway 261 in Utah where the blacktop turns into a dirt road Utah has several white-knuckle roads, but Moki Dugway probably qualifies as the scariest. The three-mile-long switchback road is carved right into the side of the mountain. The gravel road is steep at an 11% grade with hairpin turns…and no guardrail down the side of a cliff. However, if you dare to drive this road, you’ll see some absolutely gorgeous views.

This unique stretch of road, which has literally been carved from the face of the cliff, connects Utah Highway 95 with US Highway 163. Along the dugway, the route is a place to pull out and get a fantastic view of the Valley of the Gods. The Moki Dugway also offers great views of the San Juan River Canyon, where the stripes of different colored rocks create what is known as the “Navajo Tapestry”. If you look off to the horizon, you can even see Monument Valley.

The Moki Dugway was constructed in 1958 as a route for transporting mined materials from Fry Canyon to a processing mill in Mexican Hat, Utah. This stretch of Utah Highway 261 is part of the “Trail of the Ancients”, a national scenic byway where travelers can see multiple archeological sites and unique geological formations that played a role in the history of the southwest Native American people who inhabited this area. There are no facilities along the Moki Dugway stretch of Hwy 261. The dugway is open year-round. The route is safe and passable for vehicles of all types, but you should drive with extra caution, especially if you will be pulling a trailer or driving an RV or other large vehicle. The road is wide enough to easily accommodate the passage of vehicles, but there are no guardrails. the view from Moki Dugway is truly “monumental”. Then after you get off of the Dugway a ways down the highway is the Goosenecks of the San Juan State Park. What an amazing view. Right up there with the Grand Canyon. Utah has some amazing views I can’t wait to go back again. We are planning to go back out to Hole in the Rock to finish the trail. It was truly an adventure of a lifetime.